


Get Out Alive

by ThomasSangsterAddict



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Newt Is Badass, Newt is like Alice from Resident Evil, Sonya is Newt's sister, WICKED | WCKD Is Not Good, happy? ending, thomas is a mess
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2018-04-19
Packaged: 2018-12-23 09:26:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 21
Words: 53,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThomasSangsterAddict/pseuds/ThomasSangsterAddict
Summary: Don’t even ask me how I ended up in this situation. I am lost, cold, and I am being chased by ravenous, blood-thirsty creatures. I count almost 6 of them, but I keep losing track as I run between trees. I have one thing to blame for my situation. The U.S. government. More like a department in it that got way too much power. World In Catastrophe Killzone Experimental Department. WICKED is their name.They created a lethal virus to win WWVI. The virus mutated three years later, and sent the world in a global apocalypse. The point of their whole department was to prevent anything like this to happen. They did this to the human race. They were the ones responsible for the things chasing me at the moment. I hate them, and I hate what they did. Now isn't the time to think about it, I have a more serious issue at hand. How am I going to get away from these things?





	1. Another Day, Another Crank

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome, my friends. This isn't going to be like any of my other long fanfiction where I get bored and delete them. I already wrote most of it! I'll be updating every Sunday, and I might drop two chapters here and there. Leave a kudos and comment. Tell me your thoughts, and ideas to make this story better. Ready, set, read.

Don’t even ask me how I ended up in this situation. I am lost, cold, and I am being chased by ravenous, blood-thirsty creatures. I count almost 6 of them, but I keep losing track as I run between trees. I have one thing to blame for my situation. The U.S. government. More like a branch in it that got way too much power. World In Catastrophe Killzone Experimental Department. WICKED is their name.

They created a lethal virus to win WWVI. The virus mutated three years later, and sent the world in a global apocalypse. The point of their whole department was to prevent anything like this to happen. They did this to the human race. They were the ones responsible for the things chasing me at the moment. I hate them, and I hate what they did. Now isn't the time to think about it, I have a more serious issue at hand. How am I going to get away from these things?

I look behind me to see that four are still on my tail. Even further back, two of the things were chasing a traumatized squirrel. I want to laugh, but I push my mop of blonde hair out of my eyes, and I pick up my pace.

I can feel my energy slowly leaving me. My mind races with thoughts that I’m going to die. I try to push them away, but they come back with a force. My chest starts to burn, and I slow down my pace. Another look behind me reveals only three of the ominous beings are still tailing me. One trips over a branch and I hear it scream at the top of its lungs. A gargled, inhuman cry that sends shivers down my spine. Two remain and with a vengeance.

I have a vendetta too against the creatures. They killed my parents. My mother died right in front of me. We found my father’s body the previous day. I don’t know what happened to my sister. As far as I know, she is long gone. Tears swell up at the thought of it, but I force the memories into the back of my head. I clutch the golden chain around my neck while I run.

I try to focus on the sound of my boots, one size too big, clunking against the ground as I evade the deadly threat looming behind me. The thin, checkerboard coat, that is tied around my waist, blows hard in the winds as I gain momentum from a downhill slope. At one point, I think they catch up to me because I hear snarls and growls of hungry beasts that found a feast. Luckily, not for them of course, I don’t plan to be on their menu. 

As we pass through a bramble, I wince at the thorns that home into my leg. One of the creatures gets it so much worse. All I hear is plants, leaves, and sticks breaking. Another bloody scream invades the air, and pain shoots through my head. Those things have quite a pitch. I look back to find that there is one creature left. A devious smirk is plastered on my face as an idea finds it’s way to my brain.

Surprising myself at my own stamina, I whip around instantly to face the creature that ran full speed for me. It seems shocked at the sudden movement, and fumbles a little. I take advantage of that as it crashes right into a small knife firmly placed in my hand. I get knocked down by the blow, but the creature at the end of my blade is surely dead. I examine myself for any cuts or wounds, put the blade in my belt, and I walk away.

I have no idea where I am going, and I am not completely sure that I care anymore. Nowhere is safe in this world, and I have to come to terms with that. Everywhere I go, I see dead people, broken buildings, burning cities, and so many more horrifying things. I take as much as I need, and I leave the place behind. It became a routine over the years. I routine I shouldn’t have. The whole predicament is so completely unnecessary.

I walk with caution because I know that there are man-eaters wondering around in the forest. I am careful to avoid any branches, leaves, or anything else that could reveal my position. The last thing I need at the moment is something else chasing me while I am still recovering from the last assault. Eventually, I calm down and begin to walk normally. I have a tense feeling in my stomach, but it is hard not to be nervous when you are in the apocalypse. I chuckled at my own thoughts, but froze when I heard a stick crack behind me. My hand went to my belt, and I pull out the knife conveniently tucked into one of the loops. I turn myself around prepared for the assault. It didn’t come. I turn my head and body in 360-degree angles. Each turn makes my head pound harder and my heart beat faster.

Nothing was coming at me or attacking me. My guard is still up, and my weapon is still in my tight grip. I didn’t survive for four years letting my defense down so easily, so I wait in silence. It is so quiet, a pin drop could send my arms flailing and my attacks random. Another crack of a stick sets me on panic-mode. I look in the direction of the sound to face whatever was to come.

It wasn’t a something- but a someone.  _ He  _ is a man around my age. He has black hair, dark skin, and almost black eyes. The man is a little taller than me, and he is much more muscular. He stands there looking beaten, and eying me suspiciously. There are bruises and a few cuts on him, but none of them look as if they had been done by one of the beasts I had encountered. I began to step toward him, but the dark-skinned boy steps back as I step forward. I don’t think he trusts me, and the feeling is mutual.

“Who are you?” The boy asks, and takes another step back. “I- I have a weapon.”

“I’m Newt.” I say, and they boy eyes me again. “I only have a small knife. Do you know what the bloody hell those things are exactly? You're first person I’ve met in the last four years that hasn’t killed nor looted me yet.

“Alby.” The man- Alby responds.

Alby, for the tenth time, looks me over, but smiles. I think he decided that I did not pose any threat to him. He started to pull something out of his pocket, and I hesitate. I do want to know more about this person, but I am not willing to risk my neck for it. Alby seems to sense my discomfort, but still, pulls a small item from his pocket. I get a closer look, and recognize it. The item is a box of band-aids.

“You have cuts on your legs.” The dark-skinned boy said, gesturing to the cuts. “I wouldn’t want them to get infected.”

I take a step back from shock, but a smile appears on my face as the man throws me the box. I don’t hesitate nor say thank you as I pull one out, and put it on my leg. I don’t have to look to know that Alby is smiling. I consider taking him along with me, but I choose to ask him more questions.

“You never told me what you know.” I say, and it makes his grin grow bigger.

“Oh yeah?” Alby asks, and begins laughing. “What makes me inclined to tell you anything?”

I can only imagine the look on my face. Alby starts to laugh, and I feel red rush right to my cheeks. He stops, and he looks at me. His black eyes staring not at me, but through me. Alby comes slightly closer, and stops. His lips are slightly parted, and I suddenly feel nervous.

“Want to know the truth about the virus, Newt?” Alby asks, with a deepened voice, and a chill runs through my spine. “It turns the dead into living, and the alive to creatures. The same creature for both believe it or not. We call them cranks. It's because the ones that turn into them that were living experience hatred, hatred, and more hatred before they finally go insane. The virus eats them alive at the brain before they cannot remember who they are, and replaces it with hunger. Hunger for the living.”

I go numb at this information, and dizziness runs through my head. My stomach hurts, and I have a feeling like I am going to pass out. Alby senses this, and smiles at me. The next thing I see is an extended hand placing itself firmly on my shoulders. I don’t break eye-contact with the dark-skinned boy, but I smile back.

“Is that your only weapon?” Alby asks me, changing the subject. “It’s rather poor defense, from man-eating cranks.”

I look at the blade I forgot is still in my hand. It’s a good thing too, to never let your guard down. Oddly, I don’t feel in danger. I know the feeling will pass, so I try to savor it. The living is just as dangerous as the dead. I know this from previous experiences. They kill, salvage what they can, and shoot you when you turn. Alby, however, doesn’t seem the same.

“Yes.” I say, only saying what I need to. “It’s gotten me pretty far for four years. Just before you arrived, I was being chased by six of them.”

Alby’s eyes narrow, and he clutches the weapon in his hand. I know the look in his eye. He is ready for an assault. I call random attacks from these creatures assaults instead of ambushes. The  _ cranks _ seem to be incapable of thinking an ambush out, so it is really just random. If you happen to be in the area, it attacks you without thinking. My mind wanders to the cranks I lost in the chase. I wonder where they went.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Alby asks, with a horrified expression. “They can track you for up to twelve miles.”

I wonder how he knows this, but my confused expression changes to terrified as a crank crashes through a tree to get to us. It doesn’t work because the thing falls to the ground, and lets out a shrill screech before he falls limp. The tree sways back and forth, and tips in our direction. All I can do is watch as it crashes directly on top of Alby as he tries to get away. Dirt is thrown in the air blocking my vision. A few seconds pass and I can clearly see the situation. Alby is still alive, but his legs are pinned under the tree. He squirms and throws a look in my direction. I run over to help him, but I am cut off by a crank throwing itself directly in my pathway.

I try to fake it out, but it doesn’t work. I don’t see the point in it either, because I would not be able to get Alby out from under the tree before it gets us. One look at Alby tells me that he is trying to figure out a way to get himself free. Seemingly giving up, he starts squirming from under the tree, starts digging at the dirt, and ends up flailing on the ground. The crank turns his attention away from me, and charges at Alby.

“Run!” the dark-skinned boy shouts, as the crank tackles him into the tree. “Find the Gladers.”

I barely hear him because I am already fleeing the scene. I take one look back, and I regret it instantly. I see blood splattered across the fallen tree, and Alby’s body still pinned under. I have reason to believe that not all of the blood is Alby’s. Next to the body, the crank that attacked him lies completely still except for occasional twitches. Alby’s knife is well buried into it’s head. I keep running.

My heartbeat starts matching the sound of my boots stomping on the ground. I can’t tell if it is adrenaline or fear, but it is amplified when I hear the sounds of more feet hitting clumsily behind me. I turn to see three or four cranks stumbling on each other to get to me.They seem to be killing each other more to get to me first than I would if I were fighting them. It looks like a bunch of hungry animals fighting over the last meal on earth.

I trip over a root in the woods, and I am sent flying in the air. The ground feels oddly warm and inviting. All the energy leaves me, and leaves me on the ground gasping for air. It was beginning to look a lot easier to just give up and die, but I refuse to die here. I manage to get on my feet, and I start running again. This time, gasping for air, and feeling close to death. The battle did not even begin.

They tail me nevertheless. I turn to see three left. I know better than to assume that the last three are gone for good. Even if they are killing each other to get to me, there is only one option left to have a chance of surviving. I need to fight them. I am exhausted, and in no condition to fight, but it is the only way I can get out of this mess.

I turn around so suddenly, they are taken by surprise. The idea comes to me because of the previous encounter with these creatures. Instead of staying where I am, I run full-speed for the gang of cranks. They are running for me too, but one of the cranks tackles one of its own, and bites down on its neck. Two left to go. 

I run directly in the path of the incoming crank. It doesn’t back down as I take a quick step to the left. My weapon raises in the pathway of the creature. It doesn’t change directions in time, and runs directly into my blade. I turn away right before it’s head falls clean off, and I go for the final crank.

It is still feasting on the crank that it killed when I get to it. I stumble over my own feet at the sight, but I regain posture. Then I charge at it. It doesn’t notice me until it is too late. I get a good look at it’s eyes before I deliver the final blow. Hatred was the only thing burning in it’s eyes besides hunger. Those two things were the two reasons it has to die. I drive my blade directly into the side of it’s head. A blood-curdling scream gets cut short as blood pours out of it’s mouth, and it falls to the ground. Looks like I win this round.

A smile is plastered to my face as I walk away. I have a small limp from the fall that I took, but I figure that it won’t be much of a problem for now. As I leave, I face the part of the forest I ran through evading the second wave of cranks. Dirt is lying in clumps from each step I had taken, branches are snapped along the bottom of the ground where I had fallen, and plants all around are forked from the ground from my boots when I made sharp turns and jumps previously. It’s no wonder the cranks tracked me so easily.

I turn my attention back to where I want to go. My smile never leaves my face as I make my way through the woods. I do it rather quickly to avoid the cranks being able to track me. I process information that had been given to me by Alby because I am left alone with my thoughts and my thoughts only. Wishing to stumble upon a city, I follow the same direction until my feet start to feel tired. I want to find these Gladers, but the need for sleep compels me to set up bed.

I look around for a good tree to climb. I do this every day, and it became a routine over the last four years. I see a huge one in the distance. It looks easy to climb, but I need something to hang onto in case I fall. I untie the sweat-shirt around my waist, and use it to hold myself on branches above me as I make my way up the tree. I stop climbing around 35 ft. in the air, and I sit atop a thick branch. I tie the coat around my body and the trunk, and I make a knot in the front of my waist. I try to fall asleep.

My eyes feel heavy. I can’t seem to close them though. Anxiety starts kicking in, and I get the image in my head of a zombie dragging me across the woods into the dark unknown. I sit and stare at the setting sun. I begin to think that there is hope, though. People are out there besides me. Some are good, and some want to loot you after slitting your throat open. I guess it’s just the luck of the draw. Maybe these Gladers I am supposed to find will be good people. Alby was nice… Alby is dead. A boy I barely knew. A tear slips down my face as the final rays of sun get concealed by leaves. I let the darkness flood my vision, and the nightmares come out to prowl.


	2. The Chase

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt evades cranks in a really badass way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been looking forward to posting this since I wrote it. This is a great chapter, and I hope you leave a kudos or comment. I would make this whole thing worth writing because it took a lot of time and effort. Here it is, chapter two. I hope you are ready for this.

_ All I see at first is total darkness. Panic washes through my body as I try to scream. Nothing seems to be coming out. I open my mouth to scream again, but cold water seeps into my mouth. Then, I can’t close my mouth, nor can I breathe. The desperate need to breathe sends me flailing in the darkness. As fast as the water came, it disappears. I can finally breathe again, but for how long? _

_ The next thing that comes is faces. I recognize all of them, and tears slip down my cheeks. Floating in the darkness, I can make them out perfectly. Every curve, shape, and, in my mom’s case, dimples. Her smile appears brilliantly through the darkness, emitting a weird glow. Next to her, my sister’s face is there. Sonya has a frown on her face. Somewhere inside of me, my heart breaks and a longing feeling to reach out and touch them radiates within. Next to Sonya, Alby’s face appears. His face is the worst of them all. Bite marks are all over him, bruises appear on his forehead and left cheek, and then blood starts pouring from his hairline. I scream again, but all that comes out is a gargling, inhuman cry that I have grown too familiar with over the past few weeks due to recent encounters. _

_ I blink, but I regret it almost instantly. The faces disappear when I open my eyes. The only thing left was a hushed whisper. A feeling like I am falling comes over me. I hate the feeling, but I can’t find it within me to cry. I scream, but the air takes away the sound before it can be heard. Below me, a light slowly comes into view. Colors of green, yellow, and blue appear as I fall to what I make out to be Earth. Another scream gets swept away by the wind. Only this time, I can faintly hear it. The ground rapidly appears right before my very eyes. Adrenaline flows through my system, and I struggle to slow my downfall. _

Then, something odd happens. Before I hit the ground, waves of light invade my eyes that I realize had been closed. I gently open them and realize I am not falling, but lying up. I had been previously sleeping. It was just a nightmare.

My head aches where my head had been pressed against the bark of the tree. You might think after four years of this, I would be used to the pain. You are wrong. I groggily try to roll over, but I am bound to the tree by the coat. Good thing I am because a drop from this far up is fatal. I shiver at the thought, and untie myself while putting the golden chain around my neck. I make my descent from the tree, and I begin on the move once more.

Tree branches snap below me, and I am not trying to be cautious in the slightest. In the morning, I really don’t care whether or not I die. I am not awake enough to care. Although, I bet myself if I get bit in the morning, I would not have the same attitude. That is exactly the thought that makes me walk with more care. I turn my head every now and then to make sure that nothing is chasing me. That would be just a great start to my morning.

An hour or so passes so quickly that I do not even notice that it is almost midday, until I check the position of the sun. It is almost directly above me. Heat plagues my body, and I consider ditching the checkered coat boasted around my hips. I know that I need it for winter, so I decide to leave it around me.

I swipe away sweat from my forehead with the sleeves of the coat, and continue walking in the same direction. A crack of a stick fills the air, and my head immediately snaps to the direction of the sound. Before me, a deer stands prominently from behind a boulder. It’s eyes tore through my body, and I tremble slightly before picking up my pace.

I want to kill the deer, but I can’t. I wield only a small knife, and I run on two legs. I wish I had a gun because I would be eating good today. Instead of torturing myself, I decide to shake the thoughts of deet away. I focus on the entities in the view in front of me slowly becoming more visible with each step I take.

I pass the edge of the forest, and find myself in a field. In the distance, I see something I haven’t seen in a few months. Standing before me is a city. The buildings are half-crumbled, (probably from the nuclear wars that broke out when the virus broke out) the windows are broken, and blood stains litter the bottoms of most of the buildings. My jaw drops when I see how many corpses lay on the streets as I walk through the city. I am out of supplies, and could not eat the previous day. My stomach growls, as if reminding me that it was still there. Hopefully, my luck is not as bad as I think it is.

Concrete broken, streets piled with vehicles, lamp post and other structures fallen over, and debris scattered across the neighborhood is all I see as I pass the ruins of a once populated city. I begin to think that I am the only one currently in the city. A frown makes it’s away from the depths within me, and places itself where a smile should have been.

Where are all of the cranks? The word feels like acid on my tongue without Alby, and I have the sudden urge to cry. I manage to suppress the feeling, and I make my way down a street that was less affected by whatever ruined the city. I couldn’t help but notice that nothing was attacking me, and I wasn’t running from anything. A strange feeling twisted in my gut.

I pass a house that seemed virtually untouched by the world. I stop dead in my tracks, and approach the house. It’s color is a faded color of blue, is two stories high, and the door has a somewhat intact screen door. I walk up a few stairs, and find myself on the porch. I push open the screen door, and my jaw clenches. I hear a noise coming from a few streets down, and I find myself closing the door to investigate. In the distance, I see two cranks tumble out of a broken window with something in their mouths. They hit the ground making a weird cracking sound. One manages to get up, while the other dies. The crank drags away the mysterious object that, once I get a closer look, turns out to be a ripped off leg. I shudder at what the world became.

I focus my attention back to the door. I shudder as a push it open slowly. It hardly creaks, but I know that any crank in the house would be on me immediately. That’s why I find myself pulling out my knife from one of my belt loops. After entering the house, I find myself wandering around an entrance, then I’m in the living room.

Chairs and a couch are either destroyed or turned upside down. The cupboards are open, but still full. It looks like cranks have been inside, but nobody raided this place. I smile to myself when I open the fridge to find it completely full. I find a book bag laying in the middle of the floor that must have belonged to a school student. I start plundering the cabinets and cupboards with ease. In a drawer, I find two fire starters, two packs of matches, (one not opened, and one half empty) and a few candles. I don’t know why I put them in the bag, but I did.

Foodwise, I find varieties of good things. There were lunch cakes, canned ham, canned tuna, spam, canned fruits, and I even find multiple bottles of soda and water. It reminds me of when I used to shop with my mother and sister at KMart, Walmart, or various other stores. I take kitchen knives and put them in my book bag also.

I creep up the stairs with a giant kitchen knife in my hand instead of the small knife I always use. The white walls along the stairwell turn red and more red as I go up. I takes me a minute until I realize that it is blood smeared across the walls. The grip on the knife gets tighter as I make my way into another hallway at the top of the stairs.

There are four rooms. Two on the left, and two on the right. I open the first door, and I immediately come face to face with horror. Two bodies (or is what I can call them at this point) are laid on the bed half eaten. Next to the beds a small boy. It isn’t a human, but a crank. It is munching off of the shoulder of what I assume used to be its mother before it snapped to my direction, and jumped forward.

Taken by surprise, I throw the knife forward, and it crashes right into the young crank’s neck. My hands fall right to my belt loop, and I pull out my old friend. I rush forward, and I bury it into the skull of the crank. It tries to scream, but blood only pools in the hole I made in it’s throat. I get weird flashbacks to my nightmare, and I snap the thing’s neck to put it out of its misery. 

I scan the room quickly for supplies, but I desperately want to get out of there. My eyes land on a vault. A smirk appears on my face before I lean down to examine its contents. There is a lock, but a blow with my knife sends the door falling open. Four years did a lot of damage to the poor vault door, but its effects did not touch what was inside. I carefully place my hands inside the box, and I pull out a weapon. My grin grows bigger when I recognize what it is. A pistol. This is a gun safe.

I pull out multiple items before the vault is empty. Another pistol, a revolver, and a pouch with a ton of bullets. I also find a holster for my gun with loops to hold a few of the bullets in. I cannot believe my incredible find. I do not hesitate to put the holster on the back of my pants with the revolver in it. I put the two pistols in belt loops on the sides of my pants. I tumble a bunch of ammunition in my bookbag, and I exit the room. I decide that I want out of the house as quickly as possible because of the incident with the child crank.

I find myself wandering the streets of the fallen city once more. Somehow, I feel different from before entering the house to now. I have a new bookbag full of supplies and weapons stuffed in my pants. I am wondering a crumbling city potentially full of cranks, but yet, I feel nothing. I feel no fear, no hope, no nothing. I remain emotionless as I walk past an alleyway with about eight cranks fighting each other for half of a rat. Somehow, I go unnoticed.

Eight cranks is not the biggest group I have ever seen. I get flashbacks to a moment where I am running from 17 hungry cranks in the first week the world went to hell. I used to be so scared, and so sure that I was going to die. Now, I finally feel like I can defend myself. I am actually looking forward to the unfortunate group of cranks that cross me next. I mentally slap myself in the face when the group of cranks from before suddenly shoot after me. 

The first thing I do is pull out the two pistols from inside the house. Bang bang bang bang is all I hear, and I instantly regret ever getting the guns from the house. The sound attracts more cranks than I can process. There must be around fifty man-eating cranks surrounding me as I reconsider every life choice I have ever made. I see no way out, and I get a crazy idea. I am going to just make my way out.

The horde is barely five yards away before I pick a random direction, and start firing. I rush the crowd before they react, and I kill some more cranks. Bodies and bodies fall before I barely manage to push through them all. One scratches me, but only gets through the fabric of the shirt I am wearing. More shots ring out before they all realize I am out of the crowd, and they start to chase me. There is no way in hell that I am going to survive this. Thoughts of me dying fill my head, and I try to focus on anything else. I take random twists and turns, and I run through random streets. At one point, more cranks joined the chase. Every once in awhile, I twist my arm around, and shoot whoever is directly behind me.

My boots bang against the broken roads, and I almost trip on a chunk of a broken house. My chain flies loosely in the wind as I run. I take a look behind me, and there are around thirty cranks still after me. I rush into a huge apartment complex without thinking. There is no way that thirty cranks can fit through the door though. I am right because they all plowed right into the doorway. About five got through before I started up a flight of stairs. The five tail me up the stairwell. The bookbag starts wearing me down from all of the things I crammed in it.

Eventually, I ran out of stairs to run up, and I found myself on the roof. I close the door to the roof, and quickly scan my surroundings. There is no way out besides going down. Growls and screams instantly fill my ears when the door to the roof flies off of its hinges. The worst possible situation comes true because the five cranks quickly turn into around fifteen.

I edge closer to a long descent to the ground. My eye catches the building across the street. I could probably land on one of the platforms about a story and a half below me. The problem is the distance. I still have a limp from yesterday’s encounters, and I don’t know if I can make the long jump. I don’t have much time to decide when the cranks see me, and charge after me.

I make a split second decision, and I throw the book bag to the landing point below. I don’t have time to see if it makes it because I need to jump off of the building. I take a 50/50 chance of death over a guaranteed death to a bunch of those creatures. I want to close my eyes, but I keep them open to see where I am going.

I am only in the air for a second or two. The next thing I know is that I am on the ground gasping for air, and the wind is knocked out of me. The book bag is right beside me, and I clutch it like a lifeline. I am alive, and all of my stuff is safe. I look up to the building I used to be on to see cranks stopping in their tracks, only to be pushed off of the building by cranks that stopped to late. I count eleven bodies plummeting to their imminent death, but four or five remained on the building scowling at me. A shiver goes down my side before I start moving again. 

I roll over to see feet standing right next to me. I freeze directly where I am, preparing for the grueling death that is quite possibly coming next. Instead, a very human hand extends down to my own, and helps me up. My first thoughts think that it is Alby, and by some miracle, he is still alive. Instead, I come face to face with the most beautiful teenager I have ever seen. He has brunette hair, looks about my age, he is slightly shorter than me, and has tiny moles dancing across his face. A smile is plastered on his beautiful face, and his caramel eyes glistened in the evening sun.

“Hey,” the teen said. “I’m Thomas, and we really should run.”

This is how I end up running away with a beautiful stranger. The grip on my hand gets tighter as he pulls me to a door leading inside the building I landed on. I look right before the door closes at the platform just in time to see a crank land on the roof. It lays there for a second, before scrambling to its feet, and runs for the door. Then the door gets slammed in its face, and the chase is on again.


	3. The Chase: Part Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas and Newt evade hungry cranks. Then, Newt learns that Thomas lives in a place called the Glade, and then things go from there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third chapter. I wish you would leave a kudos. It would be very thoughtful. A comment would make my day. Writing this chapter was really fun.

The faint sound of cranks breaking down the door fills my ears as Thomas and I sprint down the corridors of the office building. The strangled gurgles and screams fills me with dread, and encourages me to run faster. I let Thomas lead because he runs through the building with ease. It seems like he’s done this before because he doesn’t hesitate running through the building. He looks certain of where he is going.

Cranks dump into the same hallway that we are in. I whip around with my revolver, but Thomas intercepts my arm. He shakes his head, and mutters something about them being attracted to sound. I shudder, and put the gun away. I fumble a little, but regain my balance.

“Down the left.” Thomas said, taking a sharp left. “There should be a staircase leading to the exit.”

I missed the turn a little, but Thomas’ hand grabs mine. A shiver runs down my spine as he pulls me in the right direction, and we keep running. His hand still grasped mine. There are many doors on the right, and left. A crank tumbled out of one of the open doors, and tackled me to the floor. I don’t know if I whimpered in pain, or at the loss of contact. Either way, I am on the floor, at the mercy of a crank, with many more on my tail.

I struggle to hold the crank away from me while being careful to not be bitten or scratched. My hand slips, and the crank is about to bite me. Before it does, a knife flies into the side of its head, and it falls limp on my body. My face contorts, and I turn to see Thomas helping me up. We don’t have much reunion time because cranks start catching up to us. We are on the run again.

Doors, doors, and more doors is all I see running down the endless stretch of hallway. Thomas looks unsure at this point of where he is going. He must have lost track of where we are because of the run-in with the crank.

“Tommy, where are we going.” I ask, after a few minutes of blind running.

“Uh- um,” Thomas says, taken aback by the use of the nickname. “We’re on the 16th floor, so I would assume down.”

I chuckle, but it is cut short by the increased snarls of the cranks behind us. I mentally curse before running ahead of Thomas. If he can’t lead us anywhere, then I have to take charge. I sprint ahead of Thomas down a twisting hallway. We come to two hallways, and I stop in my tracks because I am unsure of where to go. Thomas catches up to me while I decide.

“Left.” He says, simply. “I know where we are now.”

“Do you?” I ask, sarcastically.

He nods, and I decided to go with it. I follow him as he goes down a stretch of hallway, that eventually leads to a flight of stairs. I look down them questioningly, but I have no other option but to go down. 

Instead of hearing the distant shrieks from cranks, I only hear the sound of my boots and Thomas’ shoes banging on the floor. I hear our heavy breaths, and wind blowing in from open windows in the office complex. We pass large numbers indicating which floor we are on. After we pass the 4th floor, I manage to convince myself that we lost the cranks. I know it is probably not true, but it is comforting at the very moment.

It is slightly dim in the stairwell, but I can make out Thomas’ features as if he glew in the dark. Moles danced along his perfectly sculpted face. His brown hair, though shaggy-looking, blending in well with his gorgeous, rich brown eyes. I try to focus on where we are going, but my sight always falls on the way Thomas’ lean build marches down the stairs with speed. I smile to myself, and I hope he does not notice.

The sounds of feet pounding messily against the stairs above me tells me that the cranks are in the stairwell. My heart rate picks up, and this time, it isn’t because of the beautiful stranger that may just save his life. Just as I see light at the bottom of the stairs, a body tumbles to the ground below. I look up to see cranks throwing themselves over the railing to scale the stairs faster. Luckily, none of the ones that falling get up off of the ground. 

“They’re committing mass suicide.” Thomas said. “They are trying to block the door before we get down.

I didn’t notice it, but the bodies are piling up. As Thomas and I make it to the final floor, the dead cranks are piled just at the door. Thomas landed first, so he instantly goes to move some of them. The more he moves, the more replace them. The cranks that are alive, start to gain up on us. I turn my head up to see them practically falling down the endless flights of stairs. I pull out one of my conveniently placed guns, and turn it on the cranks. I don’t fire, but I will if they get too close to us. My hand goes to my neck. I scan the stairs quickly, while frozen in place.

“What is it?!” Thomas asks, aggressively shoving bodies out of the way.

“My necklace!” I scream. “It’s a golden chain. I think I lost it.”

Two floors up, light from the increasingly opening door shines on a foreign object. I waste no time rushing up the stairs for it. Thomas tries to grab my hand, but it’s too late. The necklace is way too important. My boots beat against every step, but eventually I reach the chain. I put it around my neck on the descent down the stairs.

Thomas finally clears a way, so that the door could be opened a bit. I squirm over to where he is, and I force the door open. The squeeze isn’t ideal, but we both manage to fit. As soon as we are out of the door, it seals itself shut like a tomb. The cranks are now lost. I let out a breath of relief, as does Thomas.

“We’re alive!” I half-scream, and Thomas embraces me. “Woah- bloody hell Tommy, you could have warned me you were hugger.”

I take in the warmth of the brunette. I am so glad to be alive, I just need someone to hold on to. Thomas provides that perfectly, as I try to memorize every muscle in his arm. He isn’t strong enough to be a big boulder embracing me, but is perfectly strong enough to create a warm, safe feeling. Butterflies start to form in my stomach. Butterflies in the apocalypse, with a stranger, in the middle of nowhere, as we barely escape the grasp of man-eating creatures. Butterflies are butterflies nevertheless.

“Do you live somewhere?” Thomas asks, as we break away from the hug. “Are there people looking for you, or something.”

“Nope.” I reply. “Just me, myself, and I- unless you would want to come with me. I’m traveling place to place, and I never really settle down.”

“Well if you don’t have a place, then you might be interested in mine.” Thomas says, getting my attention. “I have a camp somewhere in the city. I was actually on my way back from one of my runs when I heard the gunshots. I figured I should check it out.”

My breath suddenly feels caught in my throat. Other survivors, are the words that just left his mouth. My tongue felt numb at the concept, and Thomas seemed to understand this. He took my hand in his, and started pulling me in a certain direction. I assume we are going to his camp, but I can’t shake the feeling that not everything is what it seems.

“Yes.” I say, as we move through the streets of the city. “I would really like stay with you, and the rest of the survivors. I mean- if you truly want me to. The last thing I want right now, is to be looted by a bunch of thugs.”

Thomas looks hurt by my comment, but throws it off of his back at the realization that I said I would live with him. He pumped his fists in the air, and muttered something about Chuck needing to make another bed. I warn him to be quiet walking through the streets of the city, but he ignores me. We turn on Salt St., and I cannot help but chuckle at the coincidence. In the distance, I see something that has me on edge, and Thomas at bay. This must be his campsite.

I can’t see much of it, due to a wall surrounding the whole thing. It looks sloppy, made entirely out of long sticks, built in a hurry by 16-year-olds, but it is a wall. Apparently, it works. If it didn’t, then Thomas might not be here today. I can’t help but feel a little grateful to the structure concealing the camp (and hopefully survivors) in it.

“You ready to meet your new family?” Thomas asks, making me feel a little nervous. “Don’t worry! I think they will love you!”

“I guess.” I say, not too reassuring. “I’m just a little nervous. This is all happening a little too fast.”

Thomas says nothing in return, but puts his hand on my shoulder gently. It is comboed with a convincing smile, and pleading puppy dog eyes. I know that saying no is not an option. I sigh internally, before approaching the camp. Thomas leads me to this ticket-booth-like thing. It has metal bars that you have to push past to get in. I try to push them open, but they’re locked. Thomas laughs, before pushing a button. A quick, blow horn-like sound emits through the air. It goes as quickly as it came, and I find myself being led through the once locked gate.

“Are you sure you want to stay with us?” Thomas asks, begging with his eyes. “You have to at least spend the night.”

I laugh, before I reply. “Of course, I want to stay. I just don’t want to be a burden for anybody here.”

“A burden?” Thomas asks, confusion in his eyes. “We have a well system here. Everyone does their part if everyone wants to eat.”

For the third time or so, Thomas bursts into laughter. This time, I smile back. Thomas has to be the perkiest person in the entire apocalypse. He strikes me as the kind of person that’s always cracking jokes, and being goofy. It makes the butterflies in my stomach take flight again.

Thomas continues to push me past the rest of the gate. My eyes widen at the sight in front of me. The camp Thomas was talking about, isn’t a camp at all. It’s a community. People walked around the ruins of a once-huge park area. Gardens grew in the remains of old sand boxes swingset areas. The place was littered with hammocks, and tiny structures that probably held sleeping people. In one area, a picnic area now contained a makeshift kitchen and dining room.

My jaw hangs down, and Thomas moves his hand to push my jaw up. I stumble back a bit, and Thomas laughs at this. I decide that his laugh is one of the better things in this world. I find it pretty amazing that after this world went to hell, someone can still find something to laugh at. It eases my nerves as Thomas directs me through the crowd of now staring people. They aren’t staring at me with fear, but of curiosity. There is this one person though. He has short, dirty blonde stubble on his head. He has muscular shoulders, a tall build, and looks the same age as I do. In fact, most of the people look around my age.

Someone walks out of the newly formed crowd. It’s a girl. She has long, wavy black hair. She has a scrawny build, but looks like she can take a thing down or two. She probably has. I watch as the girl sees Thomas, and runs into his arms. My heart sinks a little when he places as firm kiss on her cheek. I suddenly do not like this girl.

“Hey, T.” Thomas says, when the girl stops mauling him. “Teresa, this is Newt.  He’s going to be living with us for now on.”

A smile internally at the thought of not being utterly alone for once in my life. I get a flashback of Alby, and my smile drops instantly. Teresa seems to have noticed this because she put a reassuring arm on my shoulder. I cringe at the touch, but I try not to show it. She smiles at me with a brilliant set of white teeth that matches her icy blue eyes well. I despise it.

“Welcome to the Glade, Newt.” Teresa says. “You are a Glader now.


	4. The Glade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What’s the matter?” Minho asks, in an almost too innocent voice. “It’s not like he spit in it… Well, I don’t know that for sure, but I don’t think he did.”
> 
> His eyes widen at both drinks, and I start laughing. Minho picks up his own drink, and investigates it. He doesn’t find anything wrong with it, so he takes a suspicious sip of it. I snort before taking a sip myself. As soon as it hits my throat, a flavor so strong invades my senses, I almost choke. It tastes inviting, though. I almost forget that I am in a crank-filled world. Minho looks at me with a raised eyebrow when I start glugging the jug down.
> 
> “Jesus, Greenie.” Minho says, the shocked tone I can’t miss. “Never seen a first timer actually like the drink. Something must be wrong with you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The fourth chapter of this fanfic. I'm so excited. I'm going through each chapter, adding words to make them relatively lengthy, but it's fine. I have no life, so I can do just that. I have no beta reader, so I can't really make everything perfect. I'm trying though. Leave a kudos and comment. Tell me how you are feeling.

I try to calm my nerves, but nothing seems to be working. The day is going too fast, the air is becoming much harder to breathe, I start to feel numb, and words on my tongue go unspoken. These all must be because Thomas left me alone a few minutes ago. I have no idea why, but I remember Teresa sneaking off with him. Something boiled in my stomach as I wandered around my newfound home.

I try to take in the scenery. Nothing beats the feeling of seeing it for the first time. Maybe except the second time. This time I am looking at it from a whole new perspective. I am looking at it with a different mindset. This is where I am going to be building my future.

I reach the edge of the camp, and I find myself dragging my hand along the stick walls. There are stones at the bottom, but it goes up to my ankles at most. In each corner, sloppily built stairs lead to the top of the wall. Messily built structures sit atop every corner. They have to be watchtowers. The only things keeping them from crashing to the ground are unevenly cut support beams. I count around six for each tower before my eyes land on another building.

The kitchen grabs my attention. I observe the looks of the building as I make my way toward it. The thing reminds me of cookouts with my family. We would go to parks like this, and use the grill they had. I wonder if I have ever been here. Have my family and I sat in these very seats, and hung out before the world went to hell? The thought if it was crazy, but nostalgic. A few years ago I would have cried at the thought, but the world hardened thoughts like that. 

I see a few people standing in line. None of them I recognize. Not that I would recognize any of them. A few of them stare back at me. I am the new guy after all, but this is just awkward. One guy leaves his place in line, and approaches me. He had short, black hair. He is kind of pale, and slightly taller than me. He has light brown eyes that reminded me of an autumn leaf. He smiles at me, and greets me.

“I assume you’re new here.” the Asian boy said. “My name is Minho. Welcome to the Glade, and all of the stuff.”

“My name’s Newt.” I say, smiling for no reason. “Welcome to the apocalypse.”

“It’s only the end of the world because no more new music is made anymore…” Minho said, sarcastically. “Seriously! Try to get a good radio station anywhere.”

For some reason, I took a quick liking to this kid. He apparently has a sarcastic demeanor, but a good-natured one. He makes jokes, and seems all too friendly for the end of the world. Minho led me around the Glade, and introduced me to different people. I only remember Chuck because he is the baby of the glade, Gally because he is the jerk of the Glade, Frypan because he is the cook of the Glade, and Ben because he’s the first person Minho introduced me to. We find ourselves trekking back to the kitchen area, but I don’t know why.

“Where are we going?” I ask, getting Minho’s attention.

“I left my place in line to show you around.” Minho said. “In other words, I’m hungry.”

I laugh as we take our places in line to grab some grub. Minho let me in front of him, and told Frypan to get me some of Gally’s recipe. Based off of what I know about Gally, I don’t like him. His food or drink should not be very good either. My suspicions are confirmed when Frypan comes back with two trays, and two jars of an orange drink.

“I am really hoping that is orange juice.” I say, but I grab the jar anyway.

“Just don’t drink it all at once.” Minho says, with a wink.

I let him show me to a table, and we sit down. We aren’t directly near any of the Gladers, but not too far away from them either. I assume Minho does this to gradually ease me into the community. I don’t realize how hungry I am until I swallow the first bite of this chicken-like thing. Flavor hits me like a crank. It is easily the best thing I’ve had in years. Minho smiles as he watches me gorge down the meal, but I hesitate at the drink.

“What’s the matter?” Minho asks, in an almost too innocent voice. “It’s not like he spit in it… Well, I don’t know that for sure, but I don’t think he did.”

His eyes widen at both drinks, and I start laughing. Minho picks up his own drink, and investigates it. He doesn’t find anything wrong with it, so he takes a suspicious sip of it. I snort before taking a sip myself. As soon as it hits my throat, a flavor so strong invades my senses, I almost choke. It tastes inviting, though. I almost forget that I am in a crank-filled world. Minho looks at me with a raised eyebrow when I start glugging the jug down.

“Jesus, Greenie.” Minho says, the shocked tone I can’t miss. “Never seen a first timer actually like the drink. Something must be wrong with you.”

I wheeze before taking another big gulp. Someone sits down next to me, but I cannot tell who it is. I am too busy drowning away everything inside me. It feels intoxicating. Just as I down half of the jug, the person next to me snatches the jar. I internally hiss before I eye the culprit. Then I find Thomas’ eyes glaring back at me.

“I was looking for you, ya know.” Thomas says, in a rather irritated voice. “You could have told me you were gonna wander off!”

That comment makes me slightly annoyed. Thomas thinks he can put me in some random place, and then leave me? Yet, he has the right to be annoyed at me for exploring my new home. Home… that’s a bitter word on my tongue. Back to the point, what the hell! Thomas is not getting away with this.

“Maybe if you wouldn’t have left me in a strange place full of strangers to go attend to your bloody friend, then maybe you would be sitting across from me, not Minho." I growl, earning a hurt look from Thomas. “Did you once consider, in the time you were gone, what I was feeling?"

I hear a few whoops from Minho, signaling that I win the battle. Too bad, I’m really looking forward to what Thomas has to retort. Instead of yelling at me or telling me to leave, Thomas’ face softens. He puts his arm on my shoulder, and I can practically see the apology on the tip of his tongue.

“I’m sorry, Newt.” Thomas says, shockingly sincere. “I won’t leave your side for now on.”

My breath hitched in my throat, and I pray that he doesn’t hear it. I imagine my entire life with Thomas glued to my side. Instead of a look of anger forming on my face, a goofy, loving smile appears. I mentally punch myself in the gut.

“Whatever.” I spit, trying to be stubborn. “I guess you might just have to do that.”

I swear I see a ghost of a smile appear on his face before we are approached by another person. This time, it’s Chuck. I met him once, but it was when Minho ran around and screamed my name to people while I ran to catch up with him. Chuck catches my eye and smiles. Everyone just smiles here. The award for the most optimistic band of survivors goes to-.

“My name is Chuck.” Chuck says, extending his hand to me. “I know your name is Newt. Minho told everyone. Well, you probably know that heh. That was really funny seeing you running to catch up to him. Everyone was watching you. Am I talking too much?”

My jaw was slightly dropped by how much this kid can talk in a minute. Instead of answering, I give a light chuckle, and I shake his hand. He smiles again before rambling on to Minho. Thomas and I sit at the table, and I notice it getting slightly darker. I turn my head to catch Thomas staring at me. How long had he been staring?

“Do you want to meet some more people?” Thomas asks, gesturing for me to stand up. “You’re gonna be really busy tomorrow, so try to make friends to make the time pass by faster.”

“Aren’t you enough?” I say, sarcastically, but in a friendly way.

“Oh!” Thomas says, happily. “I guess you’re not mad at me anymore.”

“I guess not.” I retort. “Hard to be mad at the person who’s saved my life.”

The conversation ends because Thomas and I get up, and leave the table. I don’t know where he is taking me, but it’s probably going to end up with me meeting a bunch of strangers. I begin to feel exhausted. Instead of telling him that, I let him drag me to one of the corners of the Glade. It is one of the ones I looked at earlier. This time, the sun is just setting on it as Thomas drags me to the top.

“Check out the view…” Thomas says, in a somewhat tired voice. “The view of the sunset is always best from here.”

He isn’t kidding. The view is spectacular. A burnt orange danced around the top of the sky. A faded red trails above it, followed by a deep purple. Thomas walks around the wooden tower to a loose board in the floor. He lifts it up with ease, and pulls out a few contents. A red and white checkered blanket, two bottles of water, and a bar of some sort. It looks like chocolate.

“This is where I go when I need a break.” Thomas says. “I think of it as a little sanctuary in a sanctuary. It’s also a great way to shmooze while watching for cranks. Makes me wish I was a guard instead of a runner.”

“Here I thought I was going to meet more people…” I reply, my eyes meeting Thomas’ smile. “Also, what do you mean by guard and runner?”

“We all take jobs here.” Thomas says. “You should be tested tomorrow for what job you want to take. There are many options! There’s a guard. Guards guard the Glade. Heehee, say that 10 times fast. There’s a gardener! They harvest, plow, plant plants, and all of that good stuff. Uhm… you can be a runner like me. We run around the area and city gathering supplies. We have to be back by nightfall. You will learn this all on the tour.”

By the time Thomas is done talking, my mouth is already hung to the floor. Not that it was too much to handle, but he said it all in one breath. Noticing my look, Thomas starts laughing at me. I mentally slap myself, and my view goes to the view in front of me. I awkwardly gaze out to the sunset, when I hear Thomas spreading out the blanket. Red rushes to my face, and I try not to turn. When I do, I don’t regret it. Thomas stands there looking at me, with his hands together, on top of the blanket. My heart stops where it is.

“Don’t just stand there looking at me like a bloody idiot, Tommy.” I say, sarcastically.

“Uh- uhm… well uh- lay. Down...” Thomas says, seemingly unsure of his words. “Come lay down and watch the stars.”

“Wanker.” I mutter, as I take my place next to Thomas on the blanket.

I sit up with my legs pressed against my chest. A bottle of water is placed in my hand. My gaze goes from the boy next to me to the view in front of me. An urge to go and look down fills me, but dissipates when Thomas pushes me to the floor. At first, I struggle to get free, but my defenses fall when my eyes catch something in the sky.

_ Stars. _ The must be millions of them just dancing in the sky. I gasp when I see them all clouding my vision like fog. The shimmer, shine, and dance in the moonlight sky. I face the boy next to me to find him not staring at the sky, but staring at me. It’s like he thinks I’m more worth looking at than the diamonds in the sky.

“Catch the view?” I ask, in an innocent voice.

“Seen it a million times.” Thomas says, but softens his voice. “Now this view is one I haven’t seen before.”

It doesn’t take a genius to know he’s talking about me. I smile at him, and he smiles back. It would be really hard not to like this guy. I look back up the sky when I can no longer look at him without feeling the urge to lean in, and close the distance. Eventually, my head starts to hurt, and I shift a little in the tower. Just as I give up, and arm swoops in, and props my head up. I don’t need to look to know that it’s Thomas. I smile at the sky, and eventually, I fall asleep.

The next thing I know, the arm’s owner is shaking me awake. I find Thomas’ eyes staring at me. I smile, but then I realize that it’s still late at night. Exhaustion soon kicks in, but Thomas shakes me, and ushers me down the watchtower. His hand guides mine down, and we travel across the Glade. I am careful not to step on anybody. Eventually, we reach another corner of the Glade. The tired, irritable me kicks in.

“You woke me up to bring me to yet another corner.” I say, bitterly. “You gonna watch the sunrise too?”

Thomas ignores me, but points to the wall. I look at it, and my heart skips a beat. Names upon names are supported on the wall. I make out names like  _ Minho, Chuck, Alby,  _ and I even spot a large uneven  _ ThOMaS. _ This must be the wall of Gladers. I stare at the wall in shock. Realization pounds into my head when I realize that I forgot to tell Thomas about Alby.

“Who’s he?” I ask, pointing to Alby’s name on the walls. “Did you know him.”

“He was the best.” Thomas says, but his expression turns to a much sadder one. “Until he never came home from running- a few days ago actually.”

“He’s dead.” I say, deciding it would be best to come right out and say it. “I met him in a forest the day before you found me. He’s the one who told me to find the Gladers.”

“Oh...” Thomas says, his expression unchanging. “How did he die?”

“Cranks.” I say. “A tree fell on him. I tried to save him, but I was too late.

A long period of silence falls on us. I want to cry, and one look at Thomas tells me that he feels the same way. A loud sigh emits from Thomas, and he extends his arms to me. I let him pull me into a hug, and a knife is shoved into my hand.

“Carve your name in the wall.” Thomas says.

I take the knife, and I try to find a spot. I find one almost directly under Thomas’ name. I barely hear Thomas’ breath hitch as I carve the letters in. I am a little hesitant at first, but eventually, I get to the ‘t’. I consider putting the full  _ Newt Isaacs _ , but nobody else put their full name.

“Congrats.” Thomas says, his voice slightly hoarse. “You really are a part of us now.”


	5. The Watchtower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt tries out his first job at the Glade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is fun! I hope you guys enjoy this as much as I do. I update on Saturdays when I'm bored, but I really should be updating on Sundays. I'm really trying too, so leave a kudos and comment.

_ I wake up screaming. I’m not in the Glade, but I am in the city. I’m in the same house that I looted the weapons from. Instead of looking around the house, I am stuck in a bed. The same bed that the two parents were with their crank kid. He doesn’t seem to notice me. I look to my left, and the dad is there. This time, he is a crank. I look to the right, the mom is there in the same condition. They notice me, and they scream. This alerts their kid, and they all slowly climb on top of me, readying themselves for a feast. _

_ I wake up in the Glade. This time, it is overrun by cranks. Someone has my hand. It’s Thomas. We’re running out of the Glade. Minho, Chuck, and Teresa are all running beside us. We pass the kitchen, then the gardens, then a clearing until we come face to face with the gate. Cranks are all on our tail. We reach the gate, but a horde of cranks are there to intercept us. Looks like we are going to have to fight our way out. _

“Newt!” a voice screams. “You’re having a nightmare!”

Slowly, light seeps into my eyes. My vision becomes more clear and my surroundings come into vision. Thomas’ worried look staring at me. I smile at him, and shake it off like it doesn’t bother me. Truth is, I am bothered by it. I’m sick of having nightmares all the time. As if Thomas can sense the hurt, he puts an arm on my shoulder.

I’m in a hammock. Someone must have moved me while I was sleeping. My first hunch is that it was Thomas. Had he made the hammock too? It looks relatively new. I meet Thomas’ eyes for a second time. This time, he takes my hand in his, and pulls me to my feet. I don’t ask any questions as we make our way across the Glade. We end up at the same guard tower as yesterday. This time, Minho is there staring at us. I wonder if we are in trouble for yesterday.

“Quit looking so cheerful, Newt.” Minho says, sarcastically. “Nothing like your warm smile in the morning to brighten up people’s day. Sarcasm aside, this is your first official day. This means that you have to find a job, so you can start contributing as soon as possible. I wouldn’t want you to end up being a slopper.”

Whatever a ‘slopper’ is, I don’t want to be it. Minho gestures for me to head up the tower. When he get to the top, I see that the mess from last night had been picked up. I get a strong ‘Thomas’ vibe once again. Thomas practically confirms it by patting me on the back, then pushing past to stand next to Minho. They both look at me.

“This will be a test to see if you are fit for being a Glade guard.” Minho says, with somewhat pride. “I happen to be the keeper, so you will be spending quality time with mwa.”

Spending the day with the most sarcastic person on earth is not the most ‘pleasant’ thought, but it is better than spending it with someone like Gally. I barely know that guy, but I get a strong feeling that he is a douchebag. In the distance, I see the man himself. He is building something new in the Glade. Minho is talking, but I find myself mesmerized by the clanks of the hammer. One of the times the hammer goes down, but it doesn’t hit the nail. A scream echoes through the Glade as I go beet red holding in a laugh. Minho and Thomas are hysterical, so my defenses fall quickly. I find myself laughing with them. A guy I haven’t met goes to help Gally, but gets a blow to the face. I watch the frame crumble to the ground, and Gally staggering to the makeshift hospital in the Glade. Asshole confirmed.

“Well that was something,” Minho says, not really sure what to say. “I need your focus on me now.  This job isn’t as easy as it looks. You have to be on your best observational skills. You have to focus, and be prepared for anything. You also have to ring that bell when there is an emergency. 1 ring for cranks, two for human, three for ‘come see me.’”

He points to a bell hanging from the watchtower ceiling. It looks too heavy for the unstable watchtower made of sticks and wood. I laugh at the thought of this whole thing just suddenly crashing down. I suddenly feel nervous to be up here. This is going to be an interesting experience. Though, I am not too confident that this is going to be the job for me.

“You ready?” Minho asks. “Do you have any questions?”

“Why do we ring a bell to alert each other if cranks are attracted to sound?” I blurt, taking Minho by surprise. “Doesn’t that let the cranks know where we are?”

“Ug- uhm…” Minho starts. “You see- the thing that about that is… um. It’s only one ring, so it isn’t bad. Don’t question our logic.”

I start laughing, but Thomas joins with me this time. Minho glares at us, and mutters something about murder. I may have to sleep with one eye open tonight. A faint sound echoes in the distance. It gets more audible the closer the source is. The next thing I know, Teresa pops into the watchtower. Her eyes are glued to Thomas, but they switch to me then back to Thomas. I suddenly feel like I’m intruding on something.

“Tom!” Teresa shouts, pointing at Thomas. “You missed breakfast this morning… I had to sit all by myself with Chuck. He is annoyed at you too. You coming to eat?”

“Teresa,” Thomas starts. “Can’t you see I’m a little busy with something?”

He gestures to me, and I suddenly feel a lot more uncomfortable. Half of me wants to scream at Thomas for involving me in his personal affairs. The other half of me wants him to stay. Most of me wants him to stay, but I know that it won’t happen. I open my mouth to speak, but I close it trying to think of the words. Teresa stares at me. She isn’t glaring or anything, but simply looking. I wonder if she is going to leave anytime soon.

“Minho can take of him, Thomas.” Teresa says. “It’s guarding duty, not rocket science. The only reason Minho does it in the first place is that it is the easiest job in the Glade.”

I laugh again, but I earn another glare from Minho. God is he going to make me pay for that later. I find myself wanting Thomas to stay even more now. Instead of fighting with Teresa, Thomas sighs in defeat as he lets her drag him away from me… again. This is becoming a pattern I don’t like. If this continues, I might explode. I turn to the Asian boy next to me. His eyebrow is raised questionably.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” He replies, almost instantaneously.

I shoot him a look, but I don’t know why. I shake it off, and I listen to what he has to say about being a guard. Bla bla something about observations. Bla bla something about the bell. There is really nothing to the job that is hard. You look for cranks and ring the bell if you see one. As time passes, I realize that this isn’t the job for me.

“Now that you learned about how to properly watch over the Glade,” Minho says, with a smile on his face. “We can go for lunch. It’s Chris’ turn to watch anyways.”

At that, another boy emerges into the watchtower. He is shorter than me, with sleep-deprived eyes. He has slick black hair, and freckles dancing across his face. He’s slightly too skinny, and his eyes faded from what looks like blue to more of a grey. Now he is the first person I’ve met in the Glade that looks like he has seen the apocalypse. He isn’t overly cheerful or built like a skyscraper. He’s worn out looking, hungry, and has a permanent depressed look. I watch as he takes his place on a chair, and sets his sights on the surrounds outside of the Glade.

“He used to be a lot happier.” Minho says, when we hit the ground of the Glade from the watchtower. “That is, until his mother died. She was the last adult in the Glade.”

“What do you mean last adult?” Newt says. “Did something happen to them?”

“We think that adults are more susceptible to the virus.” Minho says. “I think that they had it from the very beginning.”

Trying to process this all, I have to slow down my pace to the kitchen. Does this mean that every adult is dead by now? This also means that my sister could still be alive. A memory flashes in my mind, and a tear slides down my face. I turn to Minho, and a worried look is plastered on his face. I feel my defenses falling. Even before the apocalypse, I had always fought tears back in front of people. Now, I just feel so weak. I barely hold back a sob before Minho puts a reassuring arm around my shoulder.

“Look,” Minho says, getting my attention. “Things may be hard, and it’s the apocalypse. It’s completely ok to cry. It’s unhealthy to hold it back. It even makes things worse. It lets you know that no matter what, even at the end of the world, you’re still human.”

I keep on walking, but I feel a million times better. Minho senses this, and his grasp on my shoulder is released. Looks like Minho can make up for being annoying at some moments. I look over at the asian, and I force a smile. It may be fake, but it makes me feel better. My parents had always told me to fake a smile, and eventually, you will feel better.

_ “Fake it till’ you make it, Newton.” My mother says, holding me as I smile at her though tears are falling down my face. “You will feel better soon.” _

“Chin up, Newt.” Minho says, with a sarcastic grin. “I’ve never seen a sadder smile on our way to get  _ food _ . C’mon now!”

“You’re right.” I say, and my smile becomes genuine. “They were right, too.”

Minho doesn’t seem to hear the last part about my parents, and the kitchen comes into view. The dark-skinned chef handing out lunch to hungry Gladers makes my stomach growl. Minho’s whoops and cheers fill the air, and we take a place in line. Minho grabs a tray, hands it to me, and gets his own. I’ve never seen someone so excited about food. My stomach growls, and I suddenly feel a lot happier to get food slapped in front of my face. Before I know it, Minho and I are at the same seats as yesterday. We do not hesitate to dig in.

“What were your parents like?” Minho asks, a little hesitantly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. Just trying to start a conversation.”

“The best.” I say, feeling nostalgic. “They were the best. My mother always sung my sister and I to sleep as my father put away the story he would read to us beforehand. My mother was a stay at home mom with an in-home office job. My father was a lawyer, and a damn good one too. One time a toy came in the mail for my sister. It was broken, and all I remember is shouts from my father on the phone with Sonya’s wailing in the background. The next day, a hundred dollars and a new toy came in the mail.”

Minho laughs after I tell the story. I go on about how he always used to fight with customer service on the phone. One employee changed his name to Cock Sucker in the postal service records. Everything shipped for a few months came to Cock Sucker. That employee got fired, and my dad got a few thousand dollars after suing the company.

“I would have killed that bastard!” Minho says, laughing while coughing out food as if it was the funniest thing he heard. “Can’t imagine the phone call he made!”

“He made the lady on the phone tell him his name!” I shout, getting looks from annoyed Gladers. “She broke out laughing on the phone. My father was bloody pissed though. All you hear is ‘Woman, you tell me what my name is!’ I almost felt bad for her, but she seemed to be having a ball!”

Minho is roaring with laughter when I finish the story. I don’t find it as funny five minutes after the story is told, but Minho continues laughing. I almost wish I can start laughing again. It feels great to laugh at the end of the world. It must be like crying. At least I know I am still human if I can laugh and cry. Minho is the definition of a human if that’s true.

“That was funny.” Minho says, still cracking up. “I think I laugh too much.”

“I would kill to laugh as much as you.” I say, being completely honest. “It feels amazing to laugh. It’s like your body is forcing you to feel at least slightly happy.”

“Hey, I know this is off-topic,” Minho starts. “But you will be spending the afternoon with Thomas. He will be showing you how to be a runner, then you will be with Gally tomorrow to learn how to be a builder, and then you will be with Zart in the afternoon learning how to be a gardener.”

I smile on the inside about spending the whole afternoon with Thomas. I don’t care that I’ll have to be running or something because I will be spending  _ the whole afternoon _ with  _ Thomas. _ This is definitely something to be looking forward to. I look past Minho to the Glade gate. Thomas is walking in our direction carrying a few items. Minho seems to notice my lack of attention, and looks where I am looking.

“Speak of the devil!” Minho says, when Thomas reaches us. “We were just talking about you.”

“Well I hope it was all good things.” Thomas says, and shoots me a wink. “You’re mine for the afternoon. Just like yesterday!”

The inside-joke goes over Minho’s head, and red rushes to my face. Minho shoots me a questionable look, and I shrug it off. Thomas looks at the two of us, and frowns. Just as I’m about to question it, a booming voice rings through the Glade.

“How  _ dare _ you even  _ think _ you can talk to me like that?” Teresa’s voice echoes through the Glade.

I turn to see Gally fall to the ground. Teresa is standing a few feet away from him. A scared look is frozen on Gally’s face. A, very well contrasting, furious look is branded onto Teresa’s face. If looks could kill, a grave would drop from the sky and land on Gally’s head. I don’t know what he did, but the three of us almost pass out of laughter when Teresa kicks him in the side. Now I know not to mess with Teresa. She’s a bear.

“We should get going.” Thomas says, gesturing for me to follow him. “We’ve got a lot to do.”


	6. Running With the Weight of the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas is testing Newt to see if he should be a runner. Newt has a nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now things start to get interesting in this one. A little bit of Newt's past is revealed, and there is more to come. Leave a kudos and a comment for me because they inspire me to keep on going on with this.

_ Of course, it’s cold out on the day of the apocalypse. It’s the middle of winter in July. I don’t know that it’s going to be the last winter I see in a long time, but somehow, I sense it. It doesn’t stop me from hating it. I’ve always hated the winter. Luckily, Sonya is planned for that. I’m currently sitting in the snow with my legs crossed while Sonya builds a snowman. She looks so pretty with snowflakes in her ghostly blonde hair and her pale skin standing out against the snow. It should be a perfect day. It should have been a perfect day. _

_ I live in a great England country house. A nice cabin-in-the-woods type home. I have a big yard, but an even bigger forest in front of the house. A frozen lake is behind the yard, and railroad tracks pass in front of the house. I watch the train every day as it zooms past my house. The next time I see that train is the last. _

_ I’m reliving it again. The day everything went to hell. The earth, humanity, and even my family. It goes from building snowmen to cranks in .5 seconds. A gust of wind blows through my blonde locks of hair, and then something flies into the snowman. Sonya looks at it in horror when the thing rises up, and stares at her. _

_ It looks human. It has hair, eyes, a mouth, and even walked sort of like a human. Except this is no man. At least, no man that I’d encountered. Hair is ripped out in places, one of the eyes is ripped clean out, and his jaw is dislocated. It is a truly horrifying sight. It gets even worse when Sonya screams, alerting our parents of danger. _

_ My brotherly instincts kick in, and I fling myself onto the creature. I start punching and punching with all of my 13-year-old strength. Sonya backs up, but trips on a rock that sends her face-planting the snow. My parents are there within the minute. My mother pulls me off of the creature before my father pulls out a revolver. _

_ It’s a simple ‘bang’ and the thing drops to the ground once more. This time, it doesn’t get up. We thought it was a good idea, but pulling the trigger triggers a whole new nightmare. I look out into the yard of our England country house to see a nightmare unfold. There are tons of those creatures. I count around sixteen. They seem to be drawn to the spot that my father is. Suddenly, like a switch had been pulled, they charge us. _

_ My mother gets us inside the house. She closes the door behind us, and all I can see is my father. He stands exactly where he is, as if not fazed by the looming danger in front of him. I shout for him to shoot the gun. _

_ “Shoot the gun, Dad!” I scream. “Shoot the gun before the bloody things get ya!” _

_ I scream and scream, but nothing I do is able to stop him. He takes the gun, shoots it, and runs into the forest. All of the hideous monsters go after him as he runs deeper and deeper into the forest. Then he trips, and all of the creatures are on top of him. Mother closes the blinds right before a gunshot goes off. _

_ “Mum!” I scream. “Where’s Dad? Tell me where Dad is?” _

_ She never speaks. The sudden realization that I will never see my father again hits me like a truck. I slump to the ground in defeat. Tears well up in my eyes, and the whole room gets filled with cries. Not all of them were from me. Sonya had been crying the whole time. We don’t leave the house for the rest of the night. We spend it crying, hiding, and preparing for the worst. The only thing is that the worst is yet to come. _

=====

“Newt?” Thomas asks, realizing I’m not paying attention. “Newt, are you okay?”

Thomas and I are just heading out of the Glade gate. I’m a little nervous leaving the Glade for the first time since I got there, but there’s nobody I’d rather do it with than with Thomas. The thought that I may see cranks seeps into my brain, but I try to push it out. It takes me until we make our way past the gate to realize that Thomas is talking.

“Oh…” I say, feeling mildly embarrassed. “Were you talking. Sorry, I got caught up in my thoughts.”

“Don’t worry.” Thomas says. “I understand completely. It’s usually just me outside the Glade, so this is usually my time to think. I guess I should train you to be a runner then.”

Thomas explains that they run every day to make sure nothing changes in the world. Say a new refugee camp opens up, Thomas needs to report it. There are also supply runs and scouting runs. On a supply run, Thomas goes through the city (and sometimes in the forest) searching for supplies. On a scout run, Thomas looks through the area to count how many cranks there are. It’s pretty fascinating, but sounds really challenging. The thought of being outside all day like the last four years of my life seems a bit underwhelming.

“We don’t really have a protocol for finding survivors…” Thomas says. “We usually find a survivor once a month. Last month, it was Chuck. This month, it was  _ you. _ I don’t know why nobody thought of making survivor runs, but I guess if you see one along the way of any run you bring them back.”

I don’t respond, and he doesn’t seem to mind. I’m kind of anxious to be out in the open city. Especially with my luck in this city. I shiver at a flashback of the old office building, and the cranks that lie within. Instead of being lost in my thoughts again, Thomas starts rambling on about his job again. I don’t think that I am going to be a runner either. The thought of spending every day with Thomas is pretty appealing though.

“What’s your favorite color?” Thomas asks, catching me totally off guard.

“Uhm- purple!” I blurt out, hoping he doesn’t notice my awkwardness. “What’s yours?”

“I think I like the color green the most.” Thomas says, looking at the trees planted around the city. “It’s such a vibrant and calming color to see at the end of the world. I think of it as the color of hope.”

I just like the color purple because it’s pretty. My dad told me that it’s a girl’s color, but that only makes me love it more. I am a firm believer that things like that are stupid, and not true. I guess I like purple so much just to prove a point. Purple is genuinely an amazing color though. Lucky for me as a kid, tons of kids in my class were under the same impression as my father. That means that the purple crayons were usually the ones left in the box… for me to snatch. 

Thomas and I start entering buildings of all shapes and sizes. Each one crumbling, decrepit, and a mess as the next one. Thomas is looking for supplies as I make sure the area is clear of cranks. We enter a small apartment building. Its bricks lost their bright red color, and remains a solemn grey with a tint of red. It blends in with the rest of the universe.

“Make sure the building is COC.” Thomas says, trying to hide his smile.”

“E- Excuse me?!” I yelp, as red floods my cheeks. “Repeat that.”

“Make sure the building is… COC!” Thomas says, screaming the last part with an all too innocent face. “COC is an acronym for ‘clear of cranks.’ I was thinking we should use code words.”

I stand there dumbfounded. “You’re an idiot.”

I go through the building with a flashlight that Thomas gave me. It occurs to me that I haven’t seen my backpack since I first entered the Glade. I need to ask Thomas about that when I get out of this stupid building. It smells like dust, the ground is slippery, and flies are everywhere. I’m about ten feet or so inside the building before I smell something. It smells like something died.

I freeze in my place. I turn back, and Thomas is staring at me through the doorway. He gives a thumbs up before I turn back to the building. I regret it instantly. As soon as I shine the light forward, a crank is two inches from my face. I fall to the ground instantly. My flashlight drops, plummeting me into darkness. I hear my name being called, and light is shone into the room. I learn why the floor is slick. I look at my hands to find that they are covered in blood.

I look around the room for the crank. Nothing is there. What I do find, however, is much more horrifying. Body after body is littered in the room. Men and women of all ages. Some children are scattered in the mix, and I have to turn my head away before I throw up. Movement in front of me has me scrambling to the door. I regret that too instantly because I run directly into a body. This time, it’s Thomas. He drags me to my feet before we rush out of the door and we get enveloped by the sun.

“Shit, Newt.” Thomas says, as we run through the city once again. “This town must seriously hate you. What were you doing before I found you, having sex with the daughter of Karma?”

“Well if anything it would be the son- woah!” I say, before Thomas jerks me around a sharp turn behind a build. His hand is firmly placed on my mouth, signaling for me not to speak. I comply, and Thomas peeks around the other end. He returns to me, and raises two of his fingers. There are two cranks right around the bend.

“Tommy?” I ask, in a hushed whisper. “Do you bring weapons with you?”

“Only a knife.” Thomas says, pulling it out.

I swipe the knife away from him before he has time to react. I rush the cranks at full speed. I knock one of them to the ground, and it lands with a cracking sound. I bury my knife in the other one’s chest. It goes limp, and plummets to the floor. My legs are swept from beneath me, and the crank is on top of me. I kick it in the chest, sending it flying off of me. I launch myself on top of it, weapon poised. I plunge it directly into the side of the creature’s head. My attention goes back to Thomas, who is staring at me as if I am made of solid gold.

“Close your mouth, Tommy.” I say, with a smirk. “The flies are out.”

=====

Thomas and I make our way back to the Glade after Thomas decides that the incident in the apartment building is enough action for the day. I find the showers, and I’m surprised to find that they still work. I wash all of the blood off of me, and grab a towel. A pair of clothes is left out for me along with a note.

_ Sorry that I almost got you eaten by a bunch of cranks. Sorry that I also scarred you for life because of it, so please don’t hate me forever. Sit with Minho, Chuck, Teresa, and I at dinner? ;) _

_ -Your bloody idiot _

_ Tommy _

I laugh without even realizing it at the signature. I put on the clothes, fold the notes, and put it in my pocket. After getting dressed, I exit the showering area to find Thomas and Minho already waiting for me. I smile at them, and Thomas waves at me. Minho has an unhappy look on his face, and I can smell the remark coming next.

“At least my job didn’t scar him for the rest of his life.” Minho grumbles, then catches my gaze. “Hey Newt! We were just discussing how Thomas almost served you as crank food. Do you remember that, Newt?”

“I bet he left the part out where I kicked two cranks’ asses right in front of him.” I retort. “He wasn’t saving anyone tonight.”

“As the matter of fact,” Minho says. “He did leave that part out… Did you piss yourself, Tommy?”

Thomas doesn’t reply. In fact, he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to the conversation at all. Instead, he’s staring at me. At first, I think he is staring at me because he’s mad at me. His softened features and parted lips tells me otherwise. My mind just tells me that it’s all a trick, and that Thomas is in love with Teresa. They seem to be in a relationship with all the times that Teresa has snuck off with him. The image of Thomas and Teresa in the middle of  _ ‘it’ _ fills my brain. I suddenly feel sad.

“You ok?” Thomas asks, when they decide to start walking to the kitchen area. “Did I really scar you for life?”

“Not really.” I reply. “Just thinking of something that makes me sad.

“You want to talk about it?” Thomas asks, with a worried look on his face. “It isn’t healthy to keep things inside like that. You might end up with depression.”

“I don’t want to talk about it, Tommy.” I say, unintentionally sour before I move my pace up to walk with Minho.

Thomas doesn’t move up to stand next to me again. Not when we get in line, and not when we sit at the table. I sit next to Minho, who sits next to Chuck. Thomas is across from Chuck, with Teresa next to him and an uncomfortably closed gap between them. I suddenly feel like gagging up the chicken and rice Frypan graciously made us. I would have if I wasn’t so hungry. Running must have worked quite an appetite.

After dinner, we part ways. I wander around the Glade until I reach a corner. A big tree lays a few feet away from both sides of the Glade. I sit at the bottom of it, and begin to think. Eventually, I feel bad for making Thomas feel bad. I decide to go look for him. I wander around the Glade again just in time to see Teresa dragging Thomas away to who-cares-where. That’s when I decide that my luck is worse than anyone else’s in the Glade. Certainly worse than Teresa’s. 

I go back to my tree, but this time I climb up its huge trunk. I find a perfect hole inside it. There is enough space to at least sit inside it. The old oak is at least good for something. I begin to think to myself once again, while absent-mindedly playing with a familiar golden chain around my neck. Thomas said that  _ I _ was sleeping with the daughter of Karma? Look who’s talking.


	7. The Story of Newt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last bits of Newt's tragic past is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if this is any good or not, but I think its pretty good, so let me live in my fantasy world. Leave a kudos and comment because those make my day, and inspire me to continue on.

_ A loud bang wakes me up, and I’m on alert. Sonya and my mother are next to me in the living room. Those creatures that killed my father still lurk outside my house. They’re waiting in the shadows ready to strike at any moment. I’m the only one awake, so I go and investigate. I creep through the kitchen, and through the dining room. I am careful to not make any noises that reveal my whereabouts. _

_ I make my way through the black and white tiled dining room when I hit something. I watch as a fork drops to the ground practically sealing my fate. It hits the ground with a clang. I’m immediately frozen in place when a figure moves into the kitchen. All I see is a big shadow cast upon the white wallpapered walls. The next thing I know, a hand goes over my mouth, and I am shoved against the dining room wall. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. _

_ “Newt.” My mother whispers, very careful to make as little noise as possible. “You’re ok. It’s just your mum.” _

_ I scan the room for Sonya, and she appears right behind my mother. I smile internally, but then the figure in the room moves again. This time, it knocks over a chair, and the breaths leave all of our bodies. It has to be doing this on purpose. It has to be watching us. It could be observing us. Learning from our every move. Perhaps it’s like a cat, and toying with us before it kills us. A shiver runs down my spine, and the hair on the back of my neck stands. I realize that this is most likely where I am going to die. _

_ My mother is determined to get us out of here. She starts moving us along the walls of the dining room. The only noise in the room is the noise coming from the creature. A low, gurgling, choking sound emits from the thing before it moves around again. We exit the dining room and find ourselves back into the kitchen. _

_ A small light is lit in the room. My mother and my sister are pale as ghosts, and I imagine that I look the same. My eyes land on the counter. A small knife lays there, along with a butcher’s knife. It’s the best option I have, so I go for it. I grab the two blades before my mother grabs me by the collar of my shirt. If we get out of this alive, I am definitely going to be grounded for that. All is going smoothly, but then the crank makes its way into the kitchen. _

_ We would have gotten away if Sonya had not gasped. The creature’s head snapped toward our direction and lunged directly for me. Then something weird happens. My life flashes right before my eyes. I see my mother pushing me on my old swing set, my dad teaching me how to use a knife, and even my mother’s beautiful voice as she sings us to sleep. Unfortunately, she won’t be singing us to sleep this time. My mother flings herself right in the pathway of the creature. It takes her down, but she takes it with her. _

_ I wrestle my sister out of the room, despite her pleas to save our mother. I look back just in time to see the creature lay a final bite to her neck. Blood spurts into the hallway we are now standing in and Sonya’s pleas turn to cries. The monster in our house wastes no time hurtling itself into the hallway. Without reacting, I bury the small knife into the neck of the creature. It falls to the ground. The body twitches before finally going limp. A final gurgle fills the air before it is replaced with undying silence. _

_ My parents are dead. That’s a weird thought for a 13-year-old like myself to comprehend. It must be harder for Sonya because she is only 10. This shouldn’t be happening to us. I don’t even know what ‘this’ is, and how many people it has killed. Surely my family cannot be the first to fall victim to these merciless creatures. The time of wondering ‘why me’ is over. I have a sister to take care of now and creatures that want to kill her. I’d be damned if I let her go without a fight. _

_ I slip the butcher’s knife in my back pocket, and the small knife gripped in my hand. We make our way upstairs, and into my room. I close the curtains and flip the light switch on. We need to get some things before vacating the house in search of help. _

_ “Sonya,” I say, slightly whispering. “Mum and Dad are not coming back, so you need to listen to me for now on. Do exactly as I tell you if we have any hope of getting out of here. Say yes if you understand.” _

_ “I understand.” She says, in such an adult way that I take a step back. _

_ “G- good.” I stutter, before handing her a book bag. “These are our school book bags. Empty your books out, and start filling them with anything you think you need to survive. That includes food, water, weapons. Anything that you cannot live without.” _

_ Sonya leaves my room, and I almost scream her name. I throw my book bag onto the bed, and I run after her. I walk slower when I get into the hall. There are four doors. One leads to the bathroom, one to my parent’s room, the one to mine, and one to my sisters. Her door is wide open, so I race into her room. There she is. She is on the floor pulling out a small box. She opens it so delicately and pulls out a chain. It is a golden chain, and she wraps it around her neck. _

_ “Sonya.” I hiss. “Don’t you even think of pulling a stunt like that again, ever. Do you hear me? You can’t just walk around at a time like this.” _

_ “I’m sorry,” Sonya says, fiddling with her chain. “Mum bought me this on my birthday a few weeks ago. Now that she’s gone I just want something to remember her- her-...” _

_ Tears cut her off, and I find myself cuddling up to her to comfort her. I don’t tell her to be quiet, I don’t tell her to settle down, but I let her quiet sobs fill the air. It’s nice to have someone to hold and to cry with at a time like this. I’ll die before I let Sonya die. I couldn’t stop my father or mother from dying, but Sonya is going to get out of this. _

_ “We have to finish packing Sonya.” I say, gesturing to her book bag.” Throw in some clothes, food, water, and all of that stuff. I will wait here for you. Then you and I are going to wait in my room until it is daytime again.” _

_ The house is eerily quiet. Sonya and I went downstairs to get food to pack. Our mother’s body lay in the middle of the kitchen floor, so I went in to raid the cabinets. Our quick trip ends with us running up the stairs, and barricading ourselves in my room. Now it is Sonya who whispers to me while I fill my book bag with essentials. _

_ “Here Sonya,” I say, handing her a small object. “I want you to keep this, and remember who you are.” _

_ “You’re not leaving me,” Sonya says, in a worried tone. “Are you?” _

_ I shake my head, and she takes the object in her hand. It’s a family photo. My mother and father are side by side, with me in front of my dad, and Sonya kneeling in front of my mother. I keep it on a shelf in my room, but now Sonya has it in her book bag. I suddenly feel a lot more confident that things are going to be ok. _

_ “How come you aren’t sobbing like me?” Sonya says. “Mum and dad are gone, monsters are chasing us, and we are on our own. This situation is out of control.” _

_ Tears well up in her eyes. I don’t respond, but I do place an arm on her shoulder. We don’t talk for a good while. Eventually, she yawns, and I lay her head on my pillow. I curl up next to her, and I start singing the song my mother sings to us before bed. I don’t know all of the lyrics, but it is enough to make her fall asleep. I fall asleep as well eventually. _

_ ===== _

_ A little beam of sunlight goes directly through the curtains, and directly into my line of vision. I grumble and moan, but I surrender and open my eyes. Memories come crashing down on me, and I have to hold a hand over my mouth to keep from crying. I look around my room, and Sonya isn’t in my arms. The wind is knocked out of me, and I stagger to my feet. _

_ I pour myself into the hallway, looking for Sonya. I don’t risk calling her name just in case those creatures are still outside, or even inside the house. I check in her room, but nothing is there. Just as I am about to leave, an open drawer in her room hints to me exactly where she is. I go up to her closet, and I knock a secret knock. Sonya and I had made it up when I was 8. It was on her 5th birthday when she began having nightmares about the world ending. _

_ The closet door opens slowly, and Sonya’s golden hair pours out. She looks sleep-deprived and disheveled. I smile at her when my eyes catch the stuffed animal in her arms. It’s a little pony that she sleeps with when she is nervous. She told everyone that she had thrown it away because she was too old. Sonya stares down at the stuffed animal, before meeting my eyes. Her enchanting brown eyes now tell a horrifying backstory. _

_ “I got nervous.” She whispers. “I had nightmares that those creatures dragged me into the dark, and you weren’t there to-” _

_ Once again her own tears cut her off. I calm her down and tell her that everything is going to be ok. That I’m never going to leave her side. Even when this is over, that I am never going to leave her. Right on cue, I hear something break through the door. I run out of the room and peer down the stairs. A ton of cranks dog-pile into the living room. _

_ “We have to get out of here, Sonya,” I say, opening the window. “They’re coming.” _

_ I usher her out of the window, and onto the roof. I head out onto the roof, both book bags in hand, and enter the light from the dawn sky. I hand Sonya the book bag, before handing her the butcher’s knife. She gives me a questioning look, but I nod my head in a serious way. We both walk across the roof of our house, trying to find a place to get down. Sonya tugs on my shirt, before pointing to the pool in our yard. _

_ “You think we can make it?” She asks. _

_ “It’s frozen solid Sonya,” I say, before realizing that it isn’t frozen. _

_ I whip around really fast. It’s supposed to be the middle of winter. Actually, it's supposed to be the middle of July, but it is supposed to be snowing like yesterday. I look around for the snowman Sonya built, but there is nothing to be found. The sun starts beating down on us, and the sound of glass breaking fills my ears. I look in the direction of Sonya’s room to see that the monsters are starting to climb on top of the roof. Sonya takes my hand, and we both leap into the pool. _

_ Cold water fills my senses, and we return to the surface. We pull ourselves out and start running to the front of the house. A train whistle fills my ears, and I get an idea. Cranks start coming at us from all sides, but we make it into the forest. I pull Sonya a bit faster than she can run, but she maintains her balance. I have a plan, and Sonya is going to live. _

_ “Where are we going?” Sonya asks. _

_ I look at her for a moment, and I no longer see the 10-year-old girl that I knew. This is a much stronger Sonya that I can be real with. I decide to let her in on the plan as we make our way in the direction that the whistle is blowing. She gasps and squeals at some parts, but goes along with the plan anyway. _

_ We find ourselves in a clearing. Railroad tracks are lined on the edge of it. The sound of the train speeding our way makes my adrenaline kick in. As soon as it comes into view, Sonya and I start waving and screaming for help. Part of me believes that it will work, but part of me remains doubtful. The train ignores us, and I catch a glimpse of cranks coming out into the clearing. Unless the train is super short, we are trapped. _

_ “I love you, Sonya,” I say, preparing for the worst. _

_ “I love you too, Newt.” She says, tears welling up in her eyes. _

_ Our begs and pleas get louder and louder as the cranks draw closer. The train visually slows down at the sight of the crank, and two doors fling open. One man appears in each door. Their arms ready to scoop us up. Sonya runs a bit closer to them, and delight shoots through my body when she gets successfully picked up. _

_ As for me, I am a split second late. Sonya tries to grab onto my hand, but my hand gets caught on her necklace, and the thing flies off of her neck. I watch as Sonya gets taken out of my line of vision. Her scream gets quieter and quieter, and eventually, fades into nothingness. I find myself all alone, with her necklace in my hand, my bookbag on my back, a weapon in my hand, and no means of escape. _

=====

I wake up screaming at the top of my lungs. I almost fall out of the tree, but I manage to keep hold. I take in my surroundings at once. I am not in the clearing, but I am back at the Glade. It’s my second official day, and I have jobs to get to. I hop out of the tree prepared for whatever Gally has to throw at me. Instead of meeting Minho at breakfast, he, Thomas, Chuck, and Teresa are all staring at me when I hit the bottom of the tree with worried looks.

“The shuck died up there?” Minho says before they all pull me into an embrace.

Maybe things aren’t going to be so bad here.


	8. The Garden

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt tries the building and gardening jobs. Thomas suprises him, and Newt does not handle it well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a like and a kudos. This one wasn't posted early like I usually do, but I'm going through a heartbreak. My first heartbreak actually, so cut me a bit of slack please.

I sit next to Minho at breakfast. Teresa next to Minho, but Thomas sits next to me. Chuck stares at me from in front of me. I feel awkward that everyone is staring at me, but I do understand why. Instead of looking at them though, I stare at my food. Hopefully, to give them the hint that I don’t want to talk about it, I pick up Frypan’s food, and I start to eat. Today was pancake day apparently, and one of the other runners found batter to make them.

“Newt,” Teresa says, with a worried look on her face. “Are you okay? You woke up half the Glade by your scream.”

“I’m sorry I woke up half the Glade.” I spit. “I just don’t want to talk about my issues with people I’ve only met when? Three days ago.”

Everyone around me stays silent, and I start to feel slightly bad for snapping at Teresa. Every time I think about the incident, it puts me in a bad mood. I start playing with the necklace around my neck, and I think of the sister I once had. Her scream when the train left me is burned into my brain for the rest of my life. I look around at the other Gladers around me. Teresa is still staring at me. Minho and Chuck start a side conversation. Thomas is still staring at me too. Except, he wasn’t staring at my face but at my neck. I suddenly feel self-conscious, and I get up to throw away my almost finished pancakes.

I scan the Glade to find the one person that I judge based off of cover, Gally. I see him a few yards away from the Glade gate, and I start to walk toward him. My head starts pounding, and I don’t know why. I do know why, but I try not to focus on it. I just need to not focus on the fact that I’m spending the morning with a person that I really dislike. Speak of the devil, Gally notices me walking in his direction, and starts walking toward me too.

“Hey, greenie,” Gally says, in a shockingly friendly tone. “I don’t believe I said welcome to the Glade, but that’s ok. Welcome anyways.”

My jaw hangs slightly open as Gally leads me toward a thing that he is building. Is this the same Gally that is made out to be the Glade asshole? Wood planks lay all over the surrounding area, with a bunch of sticks that poke out of the ground. I don’t have the faintest clue what he is building, but I don’t think that it is going well. Gally catches me noticing, and decides to shed some light on it.

“It’s supposed to be a place to hold herbs,” Gally says. “Notice the holes in the ground? We found buckets a few days ago, and now we are planting parsley, basil, cilantro, and other weird herbs. I’m not a gardener, so I don’t have to know. One of the perks of being a builder is that you can be as dumb as a rock as long as you know how to use a hammer.”

I laugh at his joke, and it really breaks the ice with him. I find him a lot more likable now that I know that he isn’t such a bad guy. Perhaps, everyone is wrong about him. Maybe he’s just nice to me, but I feel a lot better knowing that I probably won’t have to deal with mean Gally anytime soon. Gally flashes a warm smile toward me, and I can’t help, but return it. I feel fantastic.

“Hey, Newt.” A familiar voice calls from behind me.

I turn around to see Thomas staring at me with a goofy smile, and his head cocked slightly to the side. I can kiss him right then and there, but I know that he doesn’t feel the same for me. That, and he also apparently has a girlfriend. I wave back to him, and I notice Teresa trailing a few yards behind him. When she catches up, they begin to talk to me.

“We thought you could use some help with the big bear,” Teresa says, nodding at an oblivious Gally who is working on the herb holder. “It was Thomas’ idea though. I think you can handle the brute.”

Of course, it’s Thomas’ idea to come and see me, and not Teresa’s. Teresa couldn’t care less if the ground would open up, swallow me whole, and I would never be seen again. I look at them, then I look at Gally, and then I turn to them again. I grin is plastered on my face because I know that Gally is actually a nice person.

“He’s actually a really nice person,” I say, as Gally approaches us.

Teresa and Thomas look at each other and then glare at Gally. I smile, though I’m not really sure what to do. Gally looks at Teresa with a nervous expression on his face, and she just moves her head at him. Gally takes a small step toward me, and I can tell that he doesn’t want to be here right now.

“Hey, greenbean.” Gally says in a casual tone. “You going to get to work, or not?”

I shrug and follow him, despite the hisses and growls coming from Thomas and Teresa. I mentally laugh as Gally shoves a hammer in my hand to start building. He explains the length of nails and screws, and eventually, I want to hit something else with my hammer. The sun is beating down on me, my hands are really sweaty, and I broke a few boards. It didn’t take Einstein to figure out that building was not going to be my job.

“I think it’s time for you to head to gardening,” Gally says after I broke my fourth board. “You don’t seem to like building as much as I do.”

I nod my head, before getting up to go to my next job. It doesn’t take very long for me to find Zart because I remember seeing a garden a while ago. Gardening with Zart is what I am going to be doing now. I head to a picnic area, and I see a boy sitting in a small dirt patch. A trowel is placed in his moderate-sized hands, and he digs away at the dirt. Part of me wants to sit and watch, but the other part of me wants to get my hands dirty.

I look around to see that not all of the garden is in one spot. It’s in four different parts. One part has long, vine-like plants growing on poles. The poles are side by side and connected with a wooden rod running through the middle. I take the fruit off and eat it. These are grape vines. The other part has little shrub-like things. They lay side by side to each other in an enclosed area. I break a piece off. My face contorts in disgust when I realize that it’s broccoli. I place it onto one of the nearby picnic tables, hoping someone will eat it later, and I go to find the guy I had seen earlier.

I take a look at the boy in the garden. Nothing changes except he wipes the sweat off of his forehead, and then adjusts his curly blonde hair. I don’t know why, but I get the feeling that I am going to like this guy. My eyes trail to the third section. Two rows of bushes lay parallel to each other. A stone pathway in between them. One one side, I see blackberries. On the other side, I see raspberries. I don’t know why, but I smile.

“Oh- hey, greenie.” the boy, that was previously digging, says. “I didn’t see you there. My name is Zart. You’re with me for the afternoon- and apparently mid-morning. Come help me plant these.”

I wander over into the fourth section and plop down next to the boy. He smiles at me and drags over a box. A bunch of unearthed plants lay inside. I pull one out, and a bunch of dirt falls on top of my pants. Normally, I would be pissed, but for some reason, I feel at peace. I grab a trowel from Zart’s hand, and I begin to dig.

I don’t know how much time elapses, but I am halfway through the box of plants. They took up two rows of dirt, which was surprising because the area can hold maybe twelve rows of plants. Zart explains a lot to me about spacing out the plants, how to plant them in the sun, and how to care for them every day. I find myself hanging onto every word, and I get the sudden feeling that I should be taking notes on what he is saying. Gardening is so weird for me. Usually, I feel like I should be running from cranks and hiding from enemies. The garden gives me a good feeling of zen that I never noticed I could feel. Perhaps this is going to be my job. I don’t hate the thought of gardening every day.

“What do you like most about this job?” I ask, in the middle of Zart’s sentence. “Sorry for interrupting, it’s just that I think that I might choose this as my job.”

“Uh- oh,” Zart says, fumbling with his hands. “Nobody really ever chooses this as their job. I guess my favorite part of this job is how little you actually have to do. It’s just watering, weeding, and harvesting. Then the rest of the day is all free. That is unless you have to plant more plants. That is a lot of work.”

I smile before getting prepared to plant my next set of plants. At this point, I can identify some of the plants that I am planting. In my hand, I hold a watermelon plant.  Zart watches me as I dig a hole, and I gently set the newly growing plant inside. My heart buzzes with happiness to know that, one day, this plant is going to grow a watermelon or two. I am definitely going to garden for my job.

Zart nods, and I continue to tackle the box of plants. I can’t help but get dirty doing this job, but I’m practically playing in the dirt. Zart tosses an amused look at me and throws a little bit of dirt my way. I open my mouth in pretend hurt, and I launch some back. He holds his hands in the air to signal his surrender, so I turn back to my newly planted plants.

“Looking great,” Zart says. “We still have another box to plant until we are done with this section. After we are done with this section, we are moving on to herbs!”

My smile drops when he points to a slightly larger box behind him. It looks like it is the perfect amount of plants for this section though. I know it is going to take a while to plant, but it still feels good all the same. I sigh before taking one plant out of the box, and I set it to my side. I get out my trowel, and I dig another hole.

“Hey, Newt.” I hear a familiar voice say, and I look up to see Thomas looming over the garden. “You enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah, but there’s this bloody idiot popping up, and talking to me at the most random times,” I say, jokingly. “Thank goodness I’m starting to like the little bugger.”

“Your British is showing,” Thomas says as if my zipper was down.

I look down to check, but it’s still up. A hysterical laugh comes from Thomas and another figure that appears. At first, I think that Teresa joined the party. I am a lot happier to figure out that it is Minho who joined us.

“Sup, you shanks,” Minho says, cracking a smirk. “You almost done here? Thomas and I want to show you something great.”

I turn my head to Zart, who is sitting next to me. He nods his head, and whoops and cheers fill the air from the two morons in front of me. I get up, and I thank Zart before letting Thomas drag me away. It doesn’t go unnoticed how he wraps his hand around mine before we run through the Glade. We come across a small forest in the park, and, right along the edge of the trees, is a hole.

“Dear God, Tommy,” I say, smiling. “You’re going to bury me here!”

Thomas’ face contorts into many different expressions, and it sends me into a fit of laughter. Laughing is the best feeling in the world. Thomas goes to say something, but only a muffled sound comes out of his mouth. I double over laughing. He’s only making it worse.

“No!” Thomas says, eyes still wide in shock. “We’re making a pool! We need to be discrete about it because a lot of the gladers will think that it is a waste of water! We found a river going into the city, and we are using a hose to transport the water. Jesus, how did you think we were going to kill you?!”

I look down into the pool, and I’m a little shocked. Concrete was lined against the walls and was already hardened. It looks like a big square. A marker reads 15m on each side. Water is slowly filling the pool from a little green hose extending all the way to the front of the Glade, and out of the wall. I wonder how far it extends, but another look at the pool sends me feeling nauseous.

A flashback of my sister and I jumping into our pool to evade cranks fills my mind. I stare at the slowly rising water, and I can almost see my sister in the pool. Her eyes staring at me with no fear. He minds only wondering what we need to do next. Suddenly, my breathing starts to falter. I feel dizzy, and it takes a lot of energy to not topple Thomas. He is saying something, but I can barely hear it. All I can think about is my sister, and what would have happened if we had not jumped into a pool just like this one.

“Newt!” Thomas says, and I barely hear it over the sound of my brain buzzing. “Oh my god- I think he’s having a panic attack.”

Hands are suddenly on me, and I try to swat them away. Voices are filling my head. I try to scream, but all that comes out is a gasp. Terrified, I fling myself out of whoever’s arms I was in, and I try to stand up. I regret it as soon as I do. I feel myself fall. My head slams against the edge of the pool, and I find myself lost in a dark, wet silence.


	9. Wake-Up Call

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt wakes up from the accident, but he's all good. There's a fight and cuddles happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY ALMOST-HALLOWEEN! I wanted to update on Halloween, but I figured that would be cruel to make you wait longer. Leave a kudos and a comment because those make me happy and make my day.

A strange source of light is beaming into my eyes. I slip into consciousness slowly, but surely. The light above me is the sun apparently. It’s midday. My head lulls to the side, but I whip up to examine my surroundings. I find myself in a bed. The ceiling is wooden, except a small portion directly above me is made of glass. I look around, and it dawns on me that I am in the makeshift hospital of the Glade.

The bed is in the middle of a small room. It must have already been a medical room because of all the plus marks, indicating first-aid, scattered across the room. Chairs are lined up against the right side of the room. There are a few people in the room. My eyes light up when I see a sleeping Thomas. Next to him, a sleeping Minho and Chuck.

“Tommy?” I whisper, trying to wake him without waking the others. “Tommy.”

At the second mention of his name, Thomas stirs in the chair. His eyes meet mine, and a gentle smile appears on his sleepy face. His eyes shut again before they fly open again. He practically falls out of the chair, before scrambling to his feet. This alerts everyone else in the room, and the whole place is sent in chaos. Thomas regains his posture and runs over to me. His arms wrap around me, and he pulls me into a tight embrace.

“Holy shit,” Thomas says, pulling back after a long hug. “I could have sworn you slipped into a coma. You really got jacked up.”

“Yeah,” Minho says, giving me a quick hug. “We’re glad to see you’re awake after you fell into the pool. Smacked your shuck head off the concrete after throwing yourself off of Tom-boy here. You had a panic attack looking at the pool.”

“How long was I out?” I ask, hoping it wasn’t a month-long coma.

“You were out for a few days,” Chuck says. “Thomas, Minho, and I have been in this room the whole time. We skipped work, and sometimes we would even skip eating. We just wanted you to wake up, and see your friends.”

I try to process all of this information, and my head begins to hurt. My eyes meet Thomas’, and red rushes to my face. He smiles at me, and I glance at everyone around the room. I start laughing for no reason, and in a matter of moments, everyone in the room is laughing. I stop laughing when my head feels like it’s going to split apart. My hand instantly goes to my forehead to investigate. My eyes close in pain. When I open my eyes, I am met with 3 concerned faces staring back at me. I try to shake them off.

“It’s just my head,” I say. “Must have been because of me throwing myself onto concrete walls lately. I better not make a bloody habit of it.”

“Are you alright?” Thomas asks. “We aren’t sure whether or not you have a concussion. You should take it easy for a day or two.”

“I’m fine,” I say. “I just really want to get out of this bed.”

I slide off of the bed while swatting away 3 sets of hands persistently trying to help me up. I fumble standing up, but eventually, I get my balance, and I start to walk. I almost get to the door, but my legs cramp below me. I flinch, expecting to hit the ground. Instead, a strong pair of arms catches me. It’s Thomas, and he throws one of my arms around his shoulder to prop me up.

“It’s either that or bridal style,” Thomas says and throws a joking wink at me.

“Get a room!” Chuck shouts, before exiting the room. “I’m going to go see what Gally is up to. You guys are nasty.”

Thomas looks at me at the same time as I look at him, and we burst into tears laughing. At one point, Minho says his goodbyes and exits the room too. Thomas helps me out of the room, and into the daylight. My eyes struggle to adjust to the scorching sun, but eventually, I don’t have to squint to see.

“I just realized something,” Thomas says. “This is officially your one-week Gladiversary! We need to celebrate.”

“Do I look in the mood to be celebrating, Tommy?” I spit, at the mention of loud partying. “I don’t really want to be in front of a lot of people right now, and my head is really hurting. It shouldn’t even count if I’ve been unconscious for most of those days.”

“No, no, no,” Thomas says. “It can be just the two of us, Minho, Chuck, Teresa- and even Gally if you want. It could even be just the two of us. Either way, we have to celebrate.”

I sigh, and Thomas takes that as a victory. His hands pump the air, and his overly loud cheers fill the air. We start walking to who-knows-where until the kitchen comes into view. I see a few Gladers in line and Frypan at the front. He notices Thomas and I, and a smile springs to his face. He takes off the chef’s hat from his head, grabs something, and hops over the counter. He sprints over to us and shoves the plate into my hand.

“We missed you, Newt,” Frypan says. “It was supposed to be get well soon cupcakes, but then they said you might slip into a coma. Now they are ‘we are glad that you are feeling better’ cupcakes.”

“Thanks, Frypan,” I say, before sitting down in my usual spot.

Thomas takes a seat right next to me. I glance around the area, and people are looking at me. My accident must be known by everyone in the Glade. I feel a little awkward, and I look down at the cupcakes below. I look up, and Thomas meets my eyes. He gives me a slight smile, and I look back down in order to try to hide my grin. It doesn’t work.

“If you want you, you can just ask,” I say. “Don’t want bloody puppy eyes staring at me while I indulge.”

“That’s not why I was staring,” Thomas says. 

“Then why were you staring?” I say, teasingly. “Is it because I’m so pretty.”

Thomas laughs, and then scratches his arms awkwardly. I try not to focus too hard, so I shove a cupcake in his hand. I watch as he puts it in his mouth. His eyes widen, and his mouth hangs open. I have four more of these, so at least I know they won’t go to waste.

“These are salted caramel cupcakes,” Thomas says. “I didn’t know we even got this stuff.”

“You like em?” I ask, holding a cupcake questionably.

“They’re my favorite,” Thomas says. “No, that is not a ploy to get you to feed me.”

I take a bite of the cupcake, unlike Thomas shoving the whole thing in his mouth. Sure enough, it is the best thing ever. My mouth instantly explodes with flavor. Thomas watches me with an ‘I told you so face, and I shut him up with another cupcake. Eventually, we run out of cupcakes. Instead of doing something productive, we play paper football with ripped pieces of Thomas’ plate. He’s kicking my ass.

“That’s game,” Thomas says, flicking the piece of the plate through the goal I make with my hands. “3-1 is the final score.”

“I bet I could smoke you at soccer,” I say. “It’s the British in me.”

“Bloody wanker,” Thomas says, poorly mimicking my accent. “Pip pip cheerio, and all that good stuff.”

I stare at him, mortified until he starts laughing and pounding the table with his fist. A dull ache in my head makes me feel a bit tired. I stand up in order to shake the newfound dizzy feeling. Thomas is on his feet immediately.

“Are you ok?” Thomas asks, in a worried voice. “Do you need water or anything. Tea? Unless that British part of you is turned off at the moment.”

“I think I just need to take a walk,” I say.

“I’ll come with you,” Thomas says, instantly. “Don’t need you passing out in the middle of the Glade. I should really come.”

I want to say no, but Thomas has his pleading eyes locked and loaded. There is no way that I am getting out of this. Eventually, my defenses fall, and I find myself walking side by side with the persistent brunette. A victorious smile is plastered on his goofy, adorable, beautiful face. The sight of the Glade walls catches my attention before I can stare.

I run my hands against the part stone, part wood walls. I let my hand drag across the wall until I reach a special part of the wall. I haven’t been here since Thomas took me here to carve my name with the other Gladers. Somehow, standing in front of all of the names on the wall makes me feel more of a part of the Glade. I start scanning through the names before my eyes land on a familiar name. It almost brings tears to my eyes.

“Alby,” I say, almost in a whisper, but Thomas’ eyes immediately fall on me.

“He was a good man,” Thomas says. “Hey, this is going to sound off topic.”

“We weren’t really on a topic, to begin with,” I say. “Proceed.”

“What happened at the pool?” Thomas asks. “Did something happen, or do you normally have panic attacks.”

“It’s nothing really,” I say. “My sister and I jumped into our pool evading cranks. I had a nightmare about it, so looking at the pool made me remember her, and how we got separated.”

“How’d you two get separated?” Thomas asks, eyes burning with curiosity. “Is she-”

“No,” I say. “She isn’t dead as far as I know. We were trying to flag a train on our railroad down. She made it, but I didn’t. This golden necklace fell off of her in the escape.”

I gesture to the chain around my neck. To my surprise, Thomas laces his fingers around the necklace and gets really close to me. His eyes fall onto the necklace, and I can feel his hot breath on my face. My breath hitches and Thomas’ eyes dart to my eyes, to my lips, and then to my eyes again. I clear my throat, and I turn to the wall of names, trying to hide the obvious red in my cheeks.

“I’m sorry for your sister,” Thomas says, probably trying to clear the air. “I bet she’s still alive, and I bet she is looking for you.”

“Let’s just change the subject,” I say. “No sense telling me things I gave up believing years ago.”

Thomas stands and looks at me in silence. I turn in a random direction, and I start walking. Thomas trails behind me without a word. The moment between us is officially over. Memories of Thomas following Teresa to bed drift into mind, and I almost stop in my place. Just when I was forgetting about it too. It’s just a reminder that I can’t have Thomas and that Thomas doesn’t want me. I suddenly feel awkward having Thomas near me.

“It’s getting a little late,” I say, gesturing to the sky. “The sun is starting to set.”

“Oh!” Thomas says, with a grin on his face. “You want to go to my secret place in one of the watchtowers again?”

“No,” I say. “I think I’m going to go sack out.”

“It’s kind of early to go to sleep,” Thomas says, not missing a beat. “I think you and I should go do something.”

“We’ve been doing things since I woke up,” I say, getting a little irritated. “I feel a little dizzy, and I probably need sleep to get better.”

“You do know that we’ve watched you sleep for days, right?” Thomas says. “I’ve waited for you to wake up because I wanted to see you. Now you’re pouting, upset, and I have no idea why.”

It makes me a moment to process all of what Thomas is trying to tell me. I should be a little creeped out that Thomas waits for me to wake up in the morning, but I’m quite touched. I feel my heart start beating faster and faster, but reality comes back to me. Thomas is somebody else’s, and it's wrong of me to try to get him to feel things for me. It wouldn’t be right for me to do that to Teresa. As much as I loathe the sight of her, she deserves happiness too.

“Who says I’m upset?” I shout. “I just really need some sleep, Tommy. I’m a bit irritable because I’m not feeling very well.”

I try to walk a little faster, but Thomas picks up his pace too. His gaze burns into the back of my head, and I suddenly regret getting out of the hospital bed. I just need to get to my tree, and then he can’t follow me. I suddenly spring into a run, and I bolt for the tree in which I sleep in. Thomas falters but starts running after me. My head starts to pound, and I almost trip over my own foot. I look back, and Thomas is on my tail. I turn around, and I trip over a tree root. I fly through the air, and I land on the ground with a thud.

“Fuck,” I say when Thomas finally catches me. “You really need to give me some space.”

Thomas helps me up to my feet. His hair is messed up from running, and I get the urge to just fix it with my hands. His eyes are shining like he’s about to cry. Nothing but a genuinely concerned look is on his face, and I start to feel bad. I can tell this boy cares about me, but probably not in the way that I care about him. Thomas holds a tight grip on my arm, and I know that I am probably going to end up at the mercy of Thomas.

“Not when you’re upset and sick,” Thomas says. “I don’t know if you’re upset because of your sister, or because of something I did. Either way, you shouldn’t sleep alone tonight.”

It’s because of this sentence that I find myself in my tree, with Thomas next to me, trying to find room to stretch. Thomas has me in a bear-hug grip, and I’m desperate to roll to my side. The hole in the tree was barely big enough to fit me, let alone two people. Eventually, I manage to break his grasp, and I lay on my side.

Even asleep, Thomas doesn’t miss a beat. I feel an arm snake around my waist, and Thomas’ body pressed against my back. His hot breaths hit the back of my neck, and it sends shivers down my spine. I don’t know how I am going to fall asleep tonight. Eventually, I do by reminding myself that Thomas doesn’t want me. No matter how much he seems to care about me, he doesn’t care about me the way I want him to care about me. It works. I fall asleep with a tear running down my face. 


	10. Goodbye Glade

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Glade gets attacked by cranks, and now the home that Newt was getting used to is now being taken away from him. Who will survive this deadly chapter?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey hey hey, sorry I'm almost late. I'm not late though teehee. I got depression, so I've been feeling down and sick lately. Leave a kudos and comment. Let me know if you enjoyed this chapter.

I wake up to something very peaceful.The sound of a bell ringing fills my ears. I close my eyes once again, and I listen to the gentle rings. Suddenly, the weight beside me shifts. I look over to see Thomas sitting up with a yawn. He too hears the gentle rings, but he has a much different expression on his face.

“Shit.” Thomas says, looking over frantically to see where I am. “We need to get to the Homestead.”

I’m too tired to argue. I’ve been in the Glade long enough to understand the names of all the places. The Homestead is basically town hall. It’s also the living quarters for some of the higher ranking Gladers. I take my time collecting myself, but Thomas hops down the several feet high tree, and hits the ground with a thump.

“Hurry up!” Thomas screams at me. “We might not have much time!”

I’m confused to say the least, but I too hop down the tree. Thomas catches me, and he breaks into a full sprint. This catches me by surprise, but I follow him with ease. We run through the forest part of the Glade, and we eventually make it out into the clearing where the Homestead is located. I feel something tackle me from behind.

“Tommy!” I say, as I hit the ground. “Shit!”

I raise my two feet up to my stomach, and I push the crank off of my body. It soars through the air, before hitting the ground with a stomach-churning crack. Thomas runs over to me, and raises me to the ground. His gaze lies on me for a second more before we start running to the Homestead.

“They got in.” Thomas says, when we see the Homestead. “We’re being attacked by cranks.”

“That doesn’t sound very nice.” I say. “I can take on a couple of cranks myself.”

Thomas gives me a look as if telling me that this isn’t what I think it is. I roll my eyes, and I set my sights for the building a few feet away from us. Thomas tries to open the door, but it’s locked. In the distance, I see a crank charging for Thomas. I run up, and I tackle it to the ground. Realizing I don’t have my pack full of weapons, I regret my decision. An idea pops in my head, and I put my hands on it’s head. The crank struggles to get free, but a quick tug of my hands, I snap it’s neck.

“Newt!” Thomas says. “The door is open!”

I look over my shoulder to see Thomas and Minho standing in the open entrance of the Homestead. Minho throws something at me, but I duck. Behind me, a crank falls on it’s knees, and then to the ground. I look at Minho, and he smirks at me. I get back on my feet, and I run for the door. As soon as I get in, the door is closed behind me.

I scan the room. Around twenty Gladers sit on the floor with knives in their hands. A few go with the few chairs spread out across the room. I make out Teresa, Chuck, and Zart from the people who I know. I don’t see any sign of Gally.Teresa makes her over to me, and hands me a small knife. It’s my small knife from my house. Nostalgia fills me, but someone interrupts my thoughts.

“What are we going to do, Thomas?” Minho asks. “Cranks are running around everywhere. Where were you anyways? You’re usually up and about with Teresa.”

“Newt wasn’t feeling well, so I spent the night with him.” Thomas says, looking at a pouting Teresa. “If we manage to live through this, I promise I’ll make it up to you.”

I vomit in my mouth a little, and it goes unnoticed to everyone except Minho. He looks at me, then looks at Teresa, then looks at me again. This time, he has a suggestive grin on his face. Great, now I feel like running around with the cranks for a bit. The moment doesn’t get better when I hear screaming in the distance.

“Great.” Chuck says. “I’m only twelve. I don’t want to die yet.”

“You won’t die.” I reply. “I’ll die first.”

“Second.” Minho says. “I won’t let you die either. Greenies need protecting.”

“Third.” Thomas says playfully. “Can’t rely on you to save anyone’s ass, Minho.”

“Can we crack jokes later?” Teresa says. “We have issues to take care of. Like 500, man-eating, monster problems.”

I look around at the group of people around me. We all have weapons, but how many of us actually have experience with them. I know that I have experience with my knife, but I don’t expect Chuck to be as skilled with it as me. Fighting the horde may not be the brightest option. I mentally put it as a last resort.

“What if we ambush them?” Frypan asks, making his appearance known. “We could just charge them from the Homestead. They are cranks, so they won’t be able to expect something like this.”

“That’s a terrible idea.” Minho says, not even trying to hide his dislike for Frypan’s idea. “That is a definite way to get some, many, most, or even all of us killed. We are trying to find a way to get all of us out of here.”

Minho and Frypan get into an argument about the best way to get everyone out of the Glade alive. I usually get out of crank situations by outsmarting them, but there are far too many of us to pull stunts like that. I look over to Thomas, who catches my eye. He shoots me a comforting smile, but that isn’t exactly what I am looking for. I walk a little to my left until I am next to Thomas.

“Thanks for the smile,” I say. “But I was hoping to know what your plan is. I don’t have any ideas besides taking a chance and fighting these bastards.”

“I think we should fight them too,” Thomas starts. “But a lot of people here have barely even used a knife before. We really should have practiced for this sort of situation.”

Maybe Thomas is right. We should have trained for a predicament like this. If we would have, maybe we wouldn’t be sitting here, wondering what to do next, deciding which plan will result in the least amount of casualties. I’m not really scared, but more sad that some faces in this room I will most likely never see again. The chances of everyone making it out alive are slim to none. Which faces will I never see again is the issue.

I look around, and my eyes land on Chuck. He’s the youngest looking member of the Glade, so he needs to be protected the most. He looks around the homestead, until his eyes finally land on me. He gives me a nervous look, and I gesture for him to come over. He obliges. Now I stand in front of the small, chubby, brown-haired boy, unsure of what to say.

“No matter what happens,” I say. “We’re going to get you out of here alive, Chuckie. I promise. You’re the youngest out of all of us, so you have more of a life to live. If anyone is going to die today, it sure as hell isn’t going to be you. Do you understand?”

I feel Thomas’ gaze burning into the side of my head. At some point, the fighting stopped, and most of the people in the Homestead is staring at me. I suddenly feel self-conscious, but Chuck nods nevertheless.

“Greenbean.” Zart says. “If you weren’t a part of us before, you sure as hell are now.”

A few whoops and claps come from some of the Gladers, but it quickly dies out when someone reminds them that cranks are attracted to sound. As if on cue, gurgling screams emit from outside of the Homestead, and it sends shivers down my spine. I certainly start to feel nervous now. Thomas leaves my side, and takes his place next to Teresa. Sadness starts consuming me, and I realize that Chuck’s eyes are still on me.

“Don’t worry.” Chuck says. “We’ll be getting out of here alive. That means Thomas too, so you can still have something to pin after.”

Red rushes to my face, and my jaw drops. My eyes advert from the kid’s face, to Thomas’, then to any potential eavesdroppers, and then back onto Chuck. A newfound smiles appears on the kid’s face, and I regret everything up until now. I am so flustered, that I almost miss the shining light at the corner of my eye. My head snaps to the source of the light, and I choke on my spit. On the wall of the Homestead, a single fire dances on the wall.

“Fire!” Minho screams, and everyone starts panicking. “Everyone get out of the Homestead, and head for the Glade exit. If anything tries to get in your way… fight!”

A few people make it to the door before Chuck and I do. Chuck is practically glued to my side. When the door flies open, cranks are waiting for us, as if they understood everything that Minho said. One second of silence falls. I swear that I would be able to hear a pin drop in this moment, and before I know it, it’s over.

Screams and the sound of bodies falling fill the air, and I don’t even realize I’m outside until Chuck and I burst into to running at full speed. I take Chuck’s hand in mind to make sure that I don’t lose him in the fray. I scan the Glade for Thomas, but I lose sight of him. Smoke fills my nose, and I turn around for a quick second. The whole Homestead is engulfed in flames. Part of the forest is on fire, and some of the buildings ignite before my very eyes. I turn around, and I keep running.

A crank runs toward me, in the direction I am running. I pull out my knife, and I bury it into the crank’s chest, and a swing of my leg sends it flying into the air. A crank tries to come at me from my right, but I swing my arm, and I knife cuts the side of it’s head. With a scream, the figure falls limp, and hits the ground with a stomach-churning sound.

Before I know it, the grip on my hand gets torn off. I whirl around, and Chuck is barely holding back a crank. He tries to stab it with a piece of glass, but the crank swipes it away from his hands. I charge the crank before it realizes that I’m still there, and I tackle it to the ground. I punch it once twice, and I stab it in the head. I make quick work getting off of the crank, and Chuck and I trek to the other side of the Glade.

Horrible screams piece my air, but also shouts of victory do. I focus my attention to the Glade gates, and I see that  few people make it to the end of the Glade. Chuck and I are about halfway there, but we’re still kicking. Somewhere in the crowd of victorious Glader, I spot Thomas and Teresa. Minho is almost at the end, along with Zart and Frypan. The Gladers I do not see at all are Clint, and Jeff. What luck that the Glade doctors are dead. I suddenly realize that Gally is also nowhere to be seen.

As if on cue, I hear Gally shout. My eyes trail up the Glade walls, and I see Gally shouting for the cranks to come at him. He sits up on a watchtower as a ton of cranks climb up the support beams in a desperate attempt to get to him. One eventually does, but Gally whacks it off of the tower, sending it plummeting to the ground.

I focus my attention back onto where I am going. I look straight ahead to see a crank run directly in front of me. My grasp on Chuck is broken, and I am sent flying into the air. My foot must have caught the crank too because both the crank and I are on the ground in a dazed state. My leg feels as if I fell from a cliff. I pray to God that it isn’t broken.

“Run Chuck!” I shout, as Chuck comes to my aid. “Leave me you shank, just get out of here!”

“I can’t!” Chuck says. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Then go get some help.” I says, knowing that nobody will arrive in time to save me. “Go bring Thomas back.”

He nods his head, and makes it to the end of the Glade. I start crawling my way there, but I don’t make it very far before the crank I toppled finds me again. It drops like a stone directly on top of me, and the wind instantly leaves me. I cry out in pain, but I slam my knife into it’s chest. I decide that I am dying on my own terms, or I am taking out as many of these bloody bastards as I can. Either way, shit is going down, and it’s going down now.

I manage to stand up on the one leg that doesn’t feel broken. A crank comes at me from behind, but it’s like I sense it. I hop to my left, and I swing my knife into it’s back. With a scream, it falls to the ground. Another one tries tackling me, but I dive to my left. On my knees, I get to the creature, and I stab it into the side.

“Newt!” Thomas screams, but I ignore him. “Newt! I’m coming!”

I know that I’ll be dead by the time he gets here. Six cranks notice my existence, and they all charge at me at once. I am by no means that last Glader still running for the exit, but nobody cares enough to stop to aid me. They all seem to concerned about saving their own skin. I guess if I would have done that, maybe I wouldn’t be in the situation that I am in now. I don’t want regret to be the last thing that I think about. I don’t regret getting Chuck out of the Glade, and I hope that my life goes unwasted. If this is going to be my last moments, I want to think of something hopeful.

Six hungry cranks run full speed at me. I grab my sister’s necklace because it’s the last thing I want to feel if I am not going to feel anything anymore. I want my last thoughts to be of my sister. Out of the corner of my eye, I see something. Gally is running toward me, with a giant wooden pole in his hand. I turn to the horde just as a crank sweeps me off of my feet. Pain shoots through me, but my hand is still quicker than the crank. I dive my knife into the ribs of the crank upon impact. When I hit the ground, I see more cranks right on my tail.

“Newt!” Thomas yells, but this time, he is much closer to me.

I feel two very strong arms pick me up, but I can no longer stand on my leg. Another pair of arms pick me up by my legs. Out of shock, I kick forward. Minho shouts, but has my legs. I feel bad, but my head feels too dizzy to make out an apology. I manage to mumble out random slurred words to get Minho’s attention.

“I forgive you shank.” Minho grumbles between breaths. “No worries.”

Eventually, we reach the gates of the Glade. Behind Minho, I catch a quick glimpse of the place that I call home. All buildings are now on fire, and the forest is smoldering. I see the tree that I sleep in, and it’s a mess too. Bodies litter the ground, and I want to puke. It occurs to me that we may not be returning to the Glade anytime soon.

“Stay with me, Newt.” I hear Thomas say. “It’s going to be ok.”

“I know, Tommy.” I reply, turning slightly to meet his worried gaze. “I know.”

All the remaining Gladers stand outside the walls of their once-called home, wondering where to go next. I am sat against the Glade wall close to the entrance, and Thomas checks my leg. He deems it not to be broken, but badly sprained. I’m lucky that my foot isn’t broken, but I might have a limp for a while.

“Oh my god!” I suddenly scream, alerting Thomas and Minho, who are right by my side. “Where’s Chuck?!”

“I’m right here, clumsy liar.” Chuck says, appearing from a few people behind Minho. “You lied to me to get me out of the Glade. You said to bring back Thomas, and you knew you’d be dead by then if Gally hadn’t stepped in to save you.”

A pang of guilt hits me like a brick, but I refuse to apologize to Chuck because I know he would have died if I hadn’t lied to him. As much as I hate him being mad at me, him being dead is a lot worse. Gally suddenly pops into my mind too, and I look around for him. I come up short.

“I didn’t want to break my promise.” I say, to Chuck, but then I look at Thomas. “Tommy, where’s Gally?”

Thomas looks at me, then looks at Minho. I look at Minho, but he only shakes his head. I look at Thomas, but he only stares at the ground. Gally is dead. The realisation almost makes me cry. A few tears slip down my cheeks when I figure out that he would be alive now if he hadn’t saved me. It’s my fault that Gally is dead.

“It isn’t your fault.” Thomas says. “Gally was tough, but he knew the risks of saving you. He chose to risk his life to save you. I take back everything I’ve ever said about him.”

“I don’t.” Minho says. “He was an asshole up until he saved Newt. For that, I will always be grateful.”

Thomas and Minho start laughing, and I shock myself by joining in. Some other Gladers start joining in, but I don’t think they know what they are laughing at. I think they are just relieved to be able to laugh after a tragedy like this, or they are desperate to find some happiness. However small it may be. Right in front of me, I spot Teresa staring at me. I smile, and I wave to her. She runs over, and gives me a hug.

“Thank goodness you are alive!” Teresa yells, and I slightly believe her. “If I was in that situation, I probably would have rolled over and died, but you didn’t. Complete respect from me, man.”

“You should have seen him!” Thomas says, a bit too loudly. “Even after the crank that hurt his foot took him down, Newt still continued to fight. He took like three cranks down before I even got there. All of them, he took down with one foot. Can you even believe that?!”

I smile, and start laughing at Thomas’ fangirl ranting. Somewhere in the middle of his ranting, his arm snakes around my neck. I look around and Minho, Chuck, Teresa, and Thomas are all smiling. For some reason, it makes me feel better to know that they care so much about me. Somehow, even after all of this, they give me hope that, one day, the world may return to normal again. 


	11. Bestie Blessings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the raid on the Glade, the Gladers try and find a new place to call their home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heeheehee. I love this. Leave a kudos and a comment because you know you love it too.

A question hangs around the group of twenty or so remaining Gladers like a poisonous musk looming in the skies. We march our way through the city with weapons in our hands and defeat in our hearts. We lost a ton of people today, and it was all because of the cranks lighting the Homestead on fire. How did they do that anyway? How did they know catching the place on fire would drive us out? The questions remain a mystery.

Thomas walks by my side, which is a surprise to me. I want to be angry at him for leaving me back in the Glade, but I can’t find it in my heart to. I know if it were Thomas as Teresa, I wouldn’t leave either. Now, I have Minho’s shoulders as a support while I hobble through this vast wasteland.

Rubble brushes past my feet with almost every step. The smell of rotting flesh, which I have unfortunately grown accustomed to, leaves my nose burning and demanding fresh air. Unfortunately, this is not the place I am going to get it. I mentally add to the list of things that I am not going to find here which includes: Hope, happiness, clean clothes, food, and water. The last two are the worst because I did not eat breakfast, nor did I eat very much the previous day. My stomach grumbles at the thought of food.

“Here,” Minho says, slipping something in my pocket. “It’s some weird protein bar of some sort. I’m pretty sure it was in your bookbag back in the Glade. We went through your bag your first day here to make sure you weren’t hiding a bomb or anything. Though, you had quite a lot of guns for comfort.”

“That’s why I couldn’t find it,” I say, laughing. “Thank’s for the food, but also you’re a bloody bastard for going through my things. Completely understandable though…”

We go silent for a little while as we pass through the last set of houses, before finding ourselves on a highway. It’s official. We have no idea where we are going. The street is littered with wrecked cars, toppled street lamps, and rusted signs. Oddly, corpses aren’t spread across the highway like they are in the city. It’s as if they got up, and walked away.

“I can’t believe we are leaving the Glade,” Chuck says when he slows his pace to talk to me. “I didn’t expect to give it up.”

“I’m not surprised,” I reply, earning a confused look from Chuck. “Think I can take cranks down on one foot?”

“Well, I sure as hell know you can!” Chuck yells, a little too loud for comfort. “Gosh, Newt. I saw you take them down with a hurt foot. You can’t play all innocent British boy on me.”

Thomas turns to us, and Chuck retreats a few feet behind me. Minho shifts a little, and I feel like I am weighing him down. I go to move his arm, but he refuses to. Eventually, he reluctantly lets go, and I try to hop on my own. I fail miserably, but Thomas catches me before I hit the ground. The next thing I know, Thomas snakes an arm around my waist, and I am pressed against him. Red ruses to my face as we continue to walk.

“You ok?” Thomas whispers to me. “You must hate being hurt.”

“I suppose.” I say. “It’s not the pain that’s bad, but it’s the dependency I now have to have on people like you and Minho. I can’t walk without someone helping me, and it sucks.”

“I guess I never thought of it like that,” Thomas says. 

“What?” I ask, not really sure what he means by that.

“Nothing,” Thomas replies, sheepishly. “I guess I’ve just been thinking about you, and how you’re feeling miserable. I just wished I could take your pain away, but I never considered that pain wasn’t what was bothering you. Now I wish I could make it better.”

“You’re already taking the pain away, Tommy,” I say, giggling a little. “You’re helping me walk. That takes the physical pain away. You’re also talking to me and making me feel better. You don’t have to pity me though because I hate that. That’s the whole reason this foot is making me miserable.”

Thomas catches my eye, and he nods understanding. I feel the grip on my waist squeeze a bit, and then releases. Did Thomas just hug me? My chest tightens, and my heart starts beating so hard that I think Thomas can actually hear it. I try to distract myself by looking around at anything. All I see is road, cars, and mess. I wonder where the cranks and the corpses are. The chances of everyone being alive on this street is very unlikely.

“Gas station!” I shout, and everyone’s heads pop up. “Look!”

The Gladers bolt down the highway, and I feel bad for keeping Thomas behind. He looks anxious to get to where the Gladers are, but his grasp on me remains. I try to wiggle out, but Thomas pulls me back in with a wag of his finger.

“We’ll get there,” Thomas says, in a calmer voice than I believe he feels. “There’s no rush.”

“Bloody let go of me,” I reply, trying to bite his hand. “I know you want to get there as fast as I do.”

“Then you struggling will only slow us down.” Thomas reasons, and I stop. “See? We’ll be there in no time.”

We do eventually arrive at the gas station, and the Gladers are almost all inside. Thomas and I hobble in, and cool air hits my face. I look to my right, and there is food everywhere. Beef jerky, candy, Klondike bars, and everything else. I look to my left, and there are drinks everywhere. Soda, slushies, and every other sugary substance known to man. Thomas gets distracted, and I instantly bite down on his arm. I fall to the ground, and I squirm over to get something.

“Ouch!” Thomas yelps, looking down at me. “You could have asked me to walk over to the jerky section.”

Thomas bends down, and lifts me back up, which surprises me. I bit him, and he still decides to help me out. I regret biting him a little. We walk up and down the aisles, putting things we want in a bag. I look behind me, and Zart is pretending to be the cashier. I laugh as Minho hits Zart in the head with his bag of goodies.

“Oww, Minho!” Zart yells. “What the hell is in that thing?!”

Thomas rolls his eyes, and I almost bury my head in his shoulder to prevent laughing. Thomas directs us to a machine that isn’t hooked up anymore. I hit it with my fist, and lottery tickets fall through the opening. The grip around me tightens, and I look up to see Thomas frozen in horror. I look in front of me, and I regret it instantly. A corpse is on the lottery machine. The head is pressed against the glass that currently protects us, and a bloody trail leads to the floor. I fling myself backward, bringing both Thomas and I to the ground.

“The shuck?” Teresa asks, coming out of the aisle to our right. “What’s wrong with you two- holy shit!”

Teresa notices the lottery machine in the background and goes pale as a sheet. She pulls out a butcher knife, one from Frypan’s kitchen, and readies it in her hand. Nothing happens though. The body doesn’t move, and neither does Teresa. She keeps the weapon in her hand and walks away.

“Remind me never to scare Teresa,” Thomas says, smiling at me, and I feel his hot breath against my face. “We should get up now.”

We do, but Thomas has to help me up. I miss Thomas’ face being so close to mine, and I consider getting startled again. My mind short-circuits when I see a bag of goldfish. I start tossing and turning in Thomas’ arms to reach the big bag at the bottom. I do not bite though… even though I am getting really close to it. Eventually, Thomas catches on and gets me in arms-reach of the bag.

“Yes!” I shout, putting it in our bag. “God, I love goldfish. I am so glad we have food now.”

“And we can get more now!” Thomas shouts, dragging us to a display case. “Seeds!”

There is, indeed, melon and pumpkin seeds in the case. Minho runs over, and the three of us break the glass. Why someone put seeds in a display case is beyond me, but I am glad they did. Those seeds just saved our lives.  We can start farming again. We can farm when we find a place to start a new life.

“Why don’t we just stay here?” I ask, getting Thomas’ attention. “There’s food, water, shelter, and no cranks as far as I can see.”

“We should stay for a night or two,” Thomas says. “I just don’t feel like starting a new civilization in a gas station. That isn’t fancy at all.”

“We should take what we can get,” Minho says. “For now, we should take what we can get.”

I leave it to them to argue about whether or not we should live in the gas station. I can survive practically anywhere, or I wouldn’t have survived the last four years of my life. I’ve been in a better state now, than at least 3 of those years. I pull off of Thomas’ arm, and he doesn’t even realize it. I keep myself up by hanging onto the aisles. Someone appears by my side, and I expect it to be Thomas.

“Caught me,” I say, but it isn’t to Thomas. “Teresa?”

“Hey,” Teresa says, holding a crutch in her hand. “I found this behind the register. I thought you might need it.”

“Desperately,” I say, reaching for it, only to have Teresa pull it back.

“Can we talk?” She asks. “I’ll give it to you if you say yes. I just really want to know something.”

“Sure, Teresa,” I say, a little agitated that she doesn’t feel like she can talk to me without an incentive of some sort. “Can I start by just saying that you can talk to me anytime you want. You don’t need to hold the crutch over my head to do so.”

“Oh?” Teresa says, looking at the crutch with an apologetic look on her face. “Sorry, I just need to have a really serious discussion.”

She hands the crutch to me, and I instantly let go of the aisle. I struggle at first, but Teresa helps me adjust to walking on the crutch. I start to think that there really isn’t anything to hate about her. I hear Thomas laugh a few aisles away, and then I am reminded, once again, that Thomas belongs to someone else. I look at Teresa, who seems to be contemplating what to do next.

“Do you like Thomas?” She asks, and I feel as if my whole world starts shattering in front of me. “Be honest please.”

“I- uh..” I stutter. “Of course I don’t like Thomas...”

“Please!” Teresa snorts, laughing at me. “You’re a terrible liar! Look, I just want to make sure you’re a nice guy for Tom.”

I stare at her in complete and utter horror. I check the surrounding area to make sure that Thomas isn’t eavesdropping. Teresa laughs even harder and pats me on the back. I stare at her, wondering what must be going through her head. My mind just feels completely frozen, and I have no idea what to do.

“But- but aren’t you two…?” I say, hoping I don’t have to complete my sentence. “Like.. aren’t you two a thing?”

“Thomas and I?” Teresa asks, eyes wild with disbelief. “Oh my gosh! You think Thomas and I are a couple? No! We’ve been best friends since we were babies. Our moms were best friends too! Thomas is like a brother to me, Newt. Gosh, you must have hated me, thinking that I was in the way of you and Thomas.”

Guilt hits me like a truck, and I suddenly feel a deep care for Teresa. Thomas and Teresa are not a couple, and I hated Teresa for no reason. Now, in some random gas station, I realize that Thomas and I could happen. A big smile appears on my face, and I give Teresa the biggest hug I can possibly muster.

“I’m so sorry,” I whisper. “I didn’t hate you per say. I just didn’t like that I couldn’t have Thomas. I thought his heart belonged to you, and I guess I just misjudged you.”

“Well I think Thomas must really really like you, Newt,” Teresa says. “Thomas and I have always slept in the corner of the Glade. The night he spent with you, I knew you were special to him.”

Special to him. I am special to him. I am special to Thomas. Thomas thinks I’m special. I want to jump up and down and throw something because I cannot contain my happiness. Teresa looks at me like I’m an explosion waiting to happen, and smiling. I look around for Thomas, but he’s on the other side of the store.

“Oh. My. God!” I scream. “Yes! Thank you, Teresa, you have no idea how much I like Tommy! I am just really bloody ecstatic!”

“You’re welcome,” Teresa says, patting herself on the back. “I give you my bestie blessings to make as many babies with Tom as you want.”

My face switches to many different expressions, and Teresa breaks down laughing. I decide that I really really like Teresa now, and I start laughing too. I will definitely take her up on her offer, but now the question remains. What do I do now? Do I ask Thomas if he likes me back? Do I wait for the right moment?

I look at the spot across the room where Thomas was. He isn’t there anymore. I scan the room again for the brunette, and I don’t stop until I see him. He is talking to Zart, who is laughing at what Thomas must have said. I want to go over and talk to him. I give Teresa one more hug before going over to talk to Thomas. Before I do, I absentmindedly start playing with the chain around my neck. That is until I realize that it’s not there.

I check the store for the golden necklace that belonged to my sister. I start peering up and down each aisle. Teresa helps my search but comes up empty. I check over by the lottery machine. There it is, on the ground where I fell on top of Thomas. I put it around my neck, and I lace my fingers around it. Laughing, I look up and I go dead silent. The corpse is no longer in the machine.


	12. Our New Home?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One more member of the Gladers fall, and a new home is found. Is it safe, and major Newtmas moment this chapter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ouch, even I can't keep up with this anymore. I didn't post so that way I could post one today, one tomorrow, and then another one on Saturday or Sunday. I also got a little-distracted dealing with problems at school. Turns out, my crush is homophobic and loathes the sight of me now... I guess that's the way life goes, but life also goes on.

“Everyone stay quiet!” I yell, but nobody is listening. “There’s a crank on the loose!”

My eyes dart around the room for the missing creature. The only sounds that I hear are the laughs from nearby Gladers. Teresa takes notice in my demeanor, and her eyes fall on the place where the crank used to be. She goes pale as a sheet and takes the knife out of her pocket. I expect to get attacked at any moment, but a realization leads me to turn my head to Teresa. Horror fills my mind.

“Aren’t they attracted to sound?” I say, getting an ‘and your point is?’ look from Teresa. “Doesn’t that mean they will attack them, not us? If the crank isn’t coming toward us, then it must be moving toward-”

I’m cut off by a Glader screaming. It takes me a moment to realize that it’s Thomas’ screaming. My head whips toward his direction. I see Zart on the ground, a crank on top of him, and a knife in its skull. Teresa and I run toward them, but one look at Zart, and I know that he’s a goner. Blood pools around his body at an alarming rate, and gasps like a fish out of water.

“Kill me!” Zart screams. “Kill me before I become one of them.”

Thomas looks at me and then looks at a terrified Chuck. He points his head in Chuck’s direction, and I think I know what he means. I run over on one foot, dropping my crutch, and I shield his eyes from seeing the situation that’s about to unfold. I look over to Thomas, and he has a knife poised in his hand. He looks at Zart, unsure, but Zart nods his head. Thomas hands Zart the knife.

“I’m sorry you guys have to see me go like this,” Zart whispers, and buries a knife right into his own heart.

My breath gets caught in my throat. Zart lays unconscious on the floor, with a crank right on top of him. Thomas holds another knife in his hand. This time, he looks ready to use it. Zart’s eyes fly open, only this time, it isn’t him anymore. Instead, it’s a monster inside him. The crank Zart thrashes on the ground for moments, but Thomas does not hesitate to plunge the knife into Zart’s face. With a gasp, Zart goes limp once more.

Instead of uncovering Chuck’s eyes, I direct him outside of the gas station. I feel wet against my hands, and I uncover the boy’s eyes. Chuck turns around and looks at me. His face is red, and his eyes are puffy. Tears stream down his cheeks, though Chuck tries to remain calm. I press himself up against the side of the building and falls to the ground. He plants his chest two his knees and uses his arms to cover his face. Cries fill the air around me. I sit down next to him, and I throw my arm around his back.

“It’s ok,” I say, trying to calm the boy. “Everything is going to be ok. I promised you that I’m going to get you out alive, yeah? Well, the same thing goes for this bloody situation too.”

“What’s the point of living when everyone I love is dying all around me?” Chuck says, making my jaw hit the floor. “How can anyone stand living anymore?”

I want to comfort Chuck, and tell him little lies to keep him going. I open my mouth, but I can’t seem to find words to say. I can’t believe such a mature and bold statement came from the broken down kid in front of my eyes. The sound of feet hitting the parking lot beside me gets my attention.

“Newt?!” Thomas screams. “Chuck?! Oh crap! They’ve disappeared!”

“We’re over here,” I say, and Thomas pokes his head around the corner. “God, you’re such a bloody moron.”

“Nice to see you alive and well,” Thomas says, lightly punching me in the shoulder. “How’s the Chuckling doing?”

I laugh, but only a whine emits from the crying boy next to me. Thomas sighs, before sitting in front of Chuck. Thomas takes his hands and grabs the sides of Chuck’s exposed neck. Thomas moves his hands a little, and Chuck is thrown into a laughing fit. I smile as Thomas continues to tickle the poor thing.

“St-stop!” Chuck gasps. “You kn- know! Haha! I hate that!”

Thomas stops, and Chuck sits back up. He stops crying and smiles at Thomas. More footsteps are heard, and Chuck runs over to the group of concerned Gladers. Thomas looks at me. A grin is plastered on the beautiful brunette’s face. I scowl at him, nevertheless. Thomas holds his two hands out to me.

“You seem to be mad,” Thomas tells me. “I bet you’re ticklish somewhere.”

My jaw drops to the ground, and Thomas roars in laughter. His hands move toward me anyway. I swat at him, but he breaks through my hands. The next thing I know, I am thrown into a laughing fit. I can barely open my eyes, but I can tell Thomas is laughing almost as hard as me. The sound of someone clearing their throat makes me jump up off of the ground. Thomas doesn’t seem to be fazed at all. I look in the direction that the sound came from, and I sigh when it turns out to be Minho.

“Get a room,” Minho says. “I see you guys cheered Chuck up. We’ve all decided to not stay here, so get your bags and let’s go.”

I look over to Thomas, and he notices that I need help walking. He runs to my side, and I throw an arm around his shoulder. I start walking, but he stops. I look at him, but he sweeps me off of my feet. I think he’s tripping me, but then he catches me in his arms. Then he carries me bridal style into the gas station.

“I gotcha, Newt,” Thomas says. “Jesus. You need to eat a hamburger. You’re very light.”

“Good.” I spit. “I can get used to this anyways.”

I try not to look at the two bodies. We make our way to our bag, and we lift it off of the ground. Then we exit the gas station, where a few Gladers are still waiting for us to catch up. Eventually, Thomas lets me walk beside him, instead of carrying me. I kind of miss being held so close to him, but I have a feeling that it probably won’t be the last time.

“Where are we going?” I ask Thomas, who I catch staring at me. “I mean- this highway cannot last bloody forever, right?”

“I don’t know where we’re going,” Thomas says, in a solemn tone. “I never expected to lose the Glade. How in hell were we supposed to fight fifty cranks?! On top of that, we lost a lot of people. You almost died!”

I start feeling bad for Thomas because he, along with all the other Gladers, lost the Glade. Their home is gone, and now we are just wondering a random street. Maybe we’ll find somewhere better than the Glade, or maybe we’ll just get eaten by cranks. Either way, the Glade is gone, and now we need to find a new place to live.

I yawn, and I realize that it’s getting pretty late. The sun is setting behind the line of trees behind me. I look over to Thomas, and he looks exhausted as well. We can only sleep if we find a safe place to lay though. They have to find a safe place. I see three climbable trees right next to me. I’m the last person anyone needs to worry about at this point.

“I want to collapse right here,” Thomas complains.

“Well, you’ve been doing the walking of one and a half persons,” I say. “By helping me.

“Don’t mention it,” Thomas says. “I care about you too much to leave you hanging.”

I have to turn my head away in order to hide the blush on my face. Thomas lightly laughs and taps my arm. I think he pulls me in closer, but I’m not completely sure. It makes butterflies float around in my stomach nevertheless.

“You think I can walk?” I ask, not really sure whether or not I want to try walking on my own. “I think I can walk a little.”

“I’m beginning to like this though,” Thomas mutters, but slowly releases his grip on me. “Be careful, Newt.”

I progressively start walking on my own. It slightly hurts, but not enough to fall or lose my balance. I take step after step, and I feel like a baby taking its first steps. Once I start walking on my own though, I feel as though I’ve just climbed a mountain. Thomas runs over to me and gives me a hug.

“Congrats.” He says. “You can officially walk again.”

“I think I might have a bloody limp for a while,” I reply.

We continue to walk with the other Gladers. A few people notice me walking, and they congratulate me. Thomas trails a little behind me, but we still walk next to each other. For some reason, he just doesn’t seem set on talking to anyone but me. I don’t mind. In fact, I really enjoy Thomas’ company. I can talk to him all day if I want to. I think I have been talking to him for a big portion of it anyways.

“I see a couple of houses!” Minho shouts. “We can stay in those!”

Thomas and I smile at each other, and all the Gladers start stampeding to the collection of small houses. They are up a tiny hill, but I think that I am capable of reaching the top. It doesn’t matter anyway. Thomas presses his hands against my back and helps me up the hill anyway. The gesture does not go unnoticed by Chuck, who smiles suggestively at us. I glare at him. He laughs before entering a tiny, tan house. It looks like we’re splitting up.

“How many people do you think can fit in one house?” Thomas asks. “I know you, me, Teresa, Minho, and Chuck will probably end up in a house together.”

“We have to clear them of cranks, first,” I mention, and Thomas groans. “I know that you probably don’t feel like it, but we have to.”

At the end of the day, all the houses are crank-free. The Gladers distribute themselves between each house. I am in a house with Thomas, Teresa, Minho, Chuck, and Frypan settle in a worn down, light blue house. The color is faded and barely hints at what it originally looked like. We walk into the house, and it tells a different story. The living room, kitchen, and dining room are all mostly intact. Thomas helps me up a flight of rickety, old, wooden stairs. We find ourselves choosing between three bedrooms.

“If you want to share one with me…” Thomas asks me, and I suddenly feel anxious. “I wouldn’t mind.”

“Sure, Tommy,” I say, and Teresa winks at me from another bedroom. “Better than sleeping alone in a tree… by a little.”

“By a lot since it’s going to be with me,” Thomas says, with a playful wink.

“You bloody wish.” I retort as I enter the room closest to the bathroom. “I like this one. Come check it out.”

Thomas enters the room, and I feel like I’m living for a second time. There’s only one bed, so Thomas and I will have to share. The walls are a faded tan. The ceiling is a light grey color that reminds me of smoke. Everything just seems to be perfect about the room. I feel super excited that I am sharing it with Thomas. I look over to Thomas, who doesn’t seem to be looking at the room but looking at me. I suddenly feel like I need to get something off of my chest.

“Can we talk?” I ask. “It’s kind of important because I just feel like I need to tell you before this room thing is permanent.”

“If you kick in your sleep, I really don’t mind,” Thomas says, laughing. “You can tell me anything you want. I won’t judge.”

I’m going to tell Thomas that I like him. This is a make or break situation for me. My heart is beating a million beats a second. Thomas notices my nervous demeanor and places his hands on my shoulders. I have a suspicion that me might like me back, but I am not certain of it. If he doesn’t, then I guess my life is going to be awkward. I only have to tell him because this place is starting a new life. This room is where I’m going to be waking up every single day, hopefully for the rest of my life. I want to wake up to someone who I know likes me back, and wants to spend every morning waking up to me. This is the reason I sit Thomas down on our only bed, and I shake nervously.

“I like you,” I say, biting the bullet, and hoping that Thomas feels the same. “I’m only telling you because I feel like this place is where we’re going to be spending a lot of time at. If I’m going to wake up every morning to someone, I want to know that they are looking forward to seeing my face too. I’ve liked you the day you rescued me from cranks. If you don’t feel the same, I truly understand, but I just need to know.”

“I- um,” Thomas says, clearly not knowing how to respond to me. “I’m uh… straight. I- I think. I never liked a… guy before- so I think I’m straight. I’m sorry Newt.”

“It’s alright, Thomas.” I say, pretending to be ok. “I just can’t share a room with you, ya know.”

Thomas doesn’t respond and doesn’t go after me when I leave the room. Teresa notices my fake smile but decides not to ask about it. I suddenly feel out of place here, like Thomas was the one person that made me fit. I take note of a pit in my stomach, and I suddenly feel the urge to cry. I leave the house altogether, and I look for a nice tree to sleep in.

I wander across the yards of all the houses until I come across a climbable looking tree. I make my way up it, and I stop when I find the perfect spot to lay. It’s where all the main trunks of the tree dip down and form a nest-sort of hole. I don’t even need to squeeze in. It’s spacious, and an easy spot to get to.

I feel the remaining ounce of strength in me crumble, and I break down in silent tears. I feel naive to think that someone like Thomas can love a person like me. With the sun setting behind me, I fall asleep to the sweet sound of nothingness. I remember spending most of my nights like this back before I was welcomed into the Glade, and I feel as if I was better off alone.


	13. Brenda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after is terrible and the angst begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got distracted yesterday, so I posted today.

The next morning hits me like a crank. I wake up surrounding by unfamiliar surroundings, and my slowly opening eyes snap to attention. I look around panicky, but the memories of the night before flood my mind. I feel like absolute garbage as I climb out of my tree, and descend to the ground below.

There are five houses in all, and all around the same size as each other. All of them are different colors, but the colors are so faded that they are barely noticeable. They are all evenly spaced out in a line, and all on the same side. 

A few Gladers walk around the surrounding area. It must not be time to wake up, but I cannot imagine that many Gladers got to sleep well because of the day before. After all, this is our first official day in our newfound home.

“Newt?” A feminine voice calls out behind me, and I turn around to see Teresa looking at me with sorrowful eyes. “I imagine you told Thomas that you liked him yesterday. He came to me crying, and whining that he hurt your feelings. He’s really afraid that you’re never going to talk to him again.”

“Well the plan was to avoid him for a little while.” I reply, full of honesty. “I feel like I made the biggest mistake of my life, and I feel like I don’t even belong here anymore.”

“Don’t ever say that, Newt.” Teresa says, almost like a warning. “You will always belong here, with us. Once a Glader, always a Glader. It may feel a little awkward right now, but trust me, I still think Thomas will come around. He just doesn’t realize what he feels for you.”

Teresa continues to walk by my side, filling me in on everything that needs to be done around the place. Apparently a lot of Gladers are out gathering sticks, rocks, and anything we can use to build barriers to keep the cranks out. It’s all in a pile located in the yard of the middle house. It turns out that there are around five inhabitable houses in our little neighborhood. A concrete walkway connects each house to each other. My house, well used-to-be house is one of the smaller houses compared to the rest of them. 

“Are you coming back to the house?” Teresa asks, as we pick up sticks to throw into the pile a few yards away. “You don’t have to, but I think you should. If you have somewhere else to sleep, then it’s fine. I just wouldn’t want you sleeping outside on the ground.”

“I sleep in that tree over there.” I say, pointing to the tree just standing out of the forest line that is dangerously close to our living area. “It makes me feel nostalgic. I slept in a tree before I became a Glader, so it makes me feel remember who I used to be before I met you guys.”

“How did you even get in that?” Teresa says, pointing to the leg I hurt. “Don’t you feel anymore pain?”

“It’s still bruised, but not like it used to be.” I reply, noticing how surprisingly well it healed. “I guess it knows that if he doesn’t heal fast, then it could put me in real danger. I’m really grateful that it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

I pick up a big stick, and I set it on the pile in my hands. Teresa adds two more before we make our way back to our new home. Once we set our sticks onto the pile, we go to get some rocks. We’re just leaving the huge pile of sticks, when a voice booms.

“This place is officially known as the Gladerhood!” Minho’s booming voice shouts, as he places a sloppily made sign in the middle of our one-road village. “Let it be known that us teens have been through the world’s worst wringer, but we made it out alive when so many other people did not. For that, we have the Glade to thank and ourselves to thank.”

Teresa and I walk over to where Minho is hammering a sign that reads ‘Gladerhood’ into the middle of our home. A small group of Gladers form around him as he does so, and I spot Thomas instantly. He turns around, and our eyes meet for the first time after the incident. I suddenly feel really embarrassed and out of place, so I turn my attention back to Minho.

“Let our new life begin today.” Minho beams. “We are the Gladers, and we are getting out of this hole the world has dug for us alive. Today, we mark this day as the beginning of the rest of our lives. We shall defend this land to our very last breath. We got lucky to have found materials to rebuild our civilization, and we cannot lose it again. This second chance maybe our last one, so we need to make it count.”

When Minho finishes, the whole place goes silent. Then all at once, everyone begins cheering. I even begin cheering with Teresa, as if I’ve been with them forever. Teresa looks at me, and gives me an ‘I told you so’ smile. I feel like I am back to being part of the group again, but I allow a little part of myself miss being all alone. Though the feeling is just masking the fact that I can no longer go over to Thomas like I would have, and cheer with him. Things just can’t be like that anymore because I know how he really feels about me. I know that he can never feel for me the way that I want him to. I’m just going to have to live with that.

“I think Minho just became the unofficial leader of the new Glade.” I tell Teresa, who nods in response.

“It was sort of like that back in the original Glade.” Teresa says. “Let’s not talk about the old Glade. I know I brought it up, but I think we should just start fresh in this new place. Make new beginnings you know?”

“I agree a hundred percent.” I say. “Let me start off by just saying that I’m really glad we’re friends now. It makes me feel good to have someone like you after what happened last night.”

“Anytime, Newt.” Teresa responds, with a grin. “After all, someone has to be there for you too. Just like someone has to be here for everyone in the Glade. That way, nobody will feel like they’re alone.”

Her words strike me like a knife, and I get the urge to go and talk to Thomas. Maybe I can straighten- smoothen things out with him. I scan the area for Thomas, but I don’t see him anywhere. I tell Teresa that I will see her later, and I go to look for the brunette that left my heart broken into pieces. I start off by checking around the surrounding area. No sign of Thomas. I look over by the house he sleeps in. No sign of Thomas. Eventually my searching becomes more frantic, and I begin to fear that he is in danger, or something bad has happened. I run past a tree, and I run into somebody. 

“Ouch- Newt!” Thomas says, unsure of what to do. “Uh. I thought I hurt you- I mean hi.. Uh can we talk? I just really want to talk to you. I tried to look for you last night, but you were nowhere to be seen. When I saw you this morning I was so relieved that you didn’t run away.”

Thomas takes my hand to lead me somewhere to talk, but I tense up at the touch of his hand. Realizing what he is doing, Thomas drops my hand with a sad expression. He looks at me, opens his mouth to speak, but then continues walking. I suddenly am anxious for what he is about to tell me. He gestures for me to go inside the house we were in the previous night, but I hesitate. Thomas notices, but I go in anyways.

“I’m sorry about the whole hand thing.” Thomas says. “I guess I’m so used to holding it, I just forgot that you probably don’t want me to. Well I get that you do, but probably not when we aren’t… never mind. Gosh, I don’t even know what to say. I thought I had all the words lined up in my head, but now I just can’t seem to talk.”

“I’m sorry.” I say, taking the lead on this conversation. “I shouldn’t have left you, but I don’t know how I could have stayed. I’m not going to lie to you. I was definitely considering leaving, but something just compelled me to stay. A friend told me that once I’m a Glader, I’m always a Glader.”

“Damn good that.” Thomas tells me. “You will always be a Glader, whether or not you feel like you are. I just wish things could go back to when we were so close, but now I feel like there’s this distance between us, and now I’m afraid it will always be there. I like to spend time with you, talk to you, and I even like holding your hand. I just don’t know what I feel anymore.”

My heart screams to reach out and hug him, but I stop myself when I realize what I am doing. Thomas notices my internal struggle and sighs. Maybe he is right. Maybe there is a barrier between us now that can never let us go back to the way things used to be. I cannot help but feel as if it is all my fault that we are in the situation we are in right now.

“I- I guess you’re right.” I say, after a long period of silence. “There is this space between us, and I guess I’m the one who put it there. I don’t know if we can go back to the way things were. Now I just regret getting so close to you, and now I feel like this.”

“I’m so sorry, Newt.” Thomas says, his voice hoarse, as if he’s trying to hold back tears.

“Me too.” I say, trying not to cry in front of Thomas. “I should go before I bloody break down in front of you.”

“I guess that’s the worst part.” Thomas says. “You can’t feel things in front of me anymore. You even called me Thomas yesterday…”

Without thinking, I open the door, and I leave the house as soon as possible. It isn’t because of what he is saying, but out of fear that I will end up sobbing in his arms. It’s just a last minute effort to salvage what shred of dignity I have left. I don’t look back when I run into the forest as fast as I can. I go as fast as my feet can possibly carry me, until I drop to my knees. My hands go to my head, and I just start sobbing. Unable to control my shaky breaths, I just let them all out. I don’t care who can hear me, I just need one minute to just break down. Once I start uncontrollably crying, I cannot seem to stop myself.

“Who are you?” A female voice asks me, and I whip my head up to see a girl around my age. “What’s the matter? Why are you crying?”

I do a double take on the girl, but a piece of me still isn’t convinced that she is real. She wears torn up jeans, a tattered tan shirt, worn out looking shoes, and a brown pack is strapped to her back. She has tan skin, short black hair, and piercing brown eyes. On her jeans, a knife is tucked into one of the loops. I feel uncomfortable, but then I remember.

“Hey!” I shout. “You’re real! Do you have any other survivors that you know of?”

“Just my father.” The girl says. “My name is Brenda. Jorge is my father. Our camp was invaded by cranks a few days ago, and I haven’t found any survivors from my group besides him. He’s hurt, and we have nowhere to go.”

“Good thing I know a place.” I say. “We were attacked too, and now we’re here. We always look for survivors, so I’m sure you and your father will be welcomed.”

“He’s sick.” Brenda tells me. “I don’t think it would be safe for me to bring him to you guys. He keeps telling me to kill him, so I took away anything he might use to harm himself.”

“Then we need to get you to the Gladerhood as soon as possible, get you looked at, and then get your father looked at.” I reply. “Come with me.”

As Brenda and I run through the new Glade, something inside me churns. I found a survivor. I found someone to bring into the Glade, and become a part of us. My heart swells with pride. Minho catches sight of me, and his jaw drops when he notices that I’m not alone. Minho runs over to me, and starts rambling.

“You run into the woods, and you bring back a girl!” Minho exclaims. “Boy do I need to reconnect with nature. “Hello there. What’s your name? Did you come here alone?”

I lose interest in the conversation because I know her name, and if she came here alone. My eyes wander around the Gladerhood, and I realize that this girl is going to have to make this place her home too. This is the first time that I get to actually welcome someone into our group. My smile widens, but then I catch sight of Thomas, who is staring at the girl as if she is the cure to the virus plaguing our world. My mind screams at me that this girl is bad news, but I know that it is only jealousy talking. Teresa comes over among a few other Gladers to look at the new girl. She looks at the girl, then looks at Thomas, then looks at me.

“Shit.” I hear her mutter.

It dawns on me that there is still another person out there that needs to be brought in for some medical attention. Are we even capable of giving Brenda’s father some medical attention. I assume that he has either been bitten or scratched really deep. The thought of another adult turning into a crank scares me, but it seems like it’s the case. I walk over to Teresa, who gives me a wounded look.

“Looks like I’m going to lose these boys’ attention.” Teresa says. “I guess we both have some competition.”

I know she is joking, but deep down inside I feel incredibly afraid. I feel afraid that Thomas is going to get closer to this girl. I can’t help but stare at her, and then then look at him. This must be the saddest I have ever felt in my life. I know I am being absolutely crazy, but, with my luck, I think that things are going to get much worse for me.

“I hate her.” Teresa says. “I already despise her.”

“How can you say that?” I say, looking at her in shock. “She seems kind of nice.”

I watch as Thomas walks over to her, introduces himself to her, and they engage in a really long conversation. I feel my heart crumble to ashes every single time he laughs at what she says, or she laughs at what he says. Somewhere in the conversation, Thomas lightly punches her in the arm, and it sends fire coursing through my body.

“You’re right.” I say, in a bitter mood. “I hate her.”


	14. Aris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt meets a boy named Aris who is new to the Glade, and a situation happens that will change Newt's perspective of Thomas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait before I updated again. So there's this guy named Isaiah, and he kind of broke my heart, and I recently was diagnosed with depression. It's been a struggle lately, dealing with both heartbreak and the effects of it in my everyday life let alone my fanfiction life. I'm sure you guys don't care about my excuses, so here's the chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Filled with angst. Leave a kudos and a comment because those make me really happy. Also, Merry Christmas. My gift to you is that I am still continuing this work.

A few days after Brenda first comes to the Glade, I cannot help but think that I should have left her in the forest. Thomas and Brenda are getting closer by the day, and I absolutely cannot stand her. When she laughs, I want to kill her. When they talk, I want to kill her. When she so much as breathes, I want to kill her. Teresa is slowly replacing the Thomas in my life though. I do not like Teresa like that, but she’s always there for me nowadays, and I can’t help but regret every single second that I wasted hating her. Maybe the same thing will happen with Brenda, and I will end up being her friend too.

“Did you hear that Minho found another survivor yesterday?” Teresa asks me, four days after Brenda is welcomed into the Gladerhood. “His name is Aris. I think he’s kind of cute.”

Teresa and I are working on building a wall around the entire area, along with many other Gladers. It’s going extremely well. We used all the stones to make a stone outline stretching around our living area. We finished the stone outline yesterday, and now we are trying to use sticks to expand it upwards. It’s going well for some people, but for me, I just cannot seem to get my sticks to stay in place.

“I should talk to him,” I say, trying to get my mind off of this stressful wall. “I bet he’s a nice guy and all. I just really want to die right now because this wall is really hard to build!”

“Relax, Newt,” Teresa says. “We’re only at like four feet. Wait until we get to like twenty or forty feet high. That’s when you can start complaining… don’t worry. It gets easier. I’m just shocked I have to build another one.”

I laugh, but it’s cut off when someone bumps into me, sending what little I could accomplish falling to the ground. I look in the direction I was hit, and I see a boy that I have yet to meet. The boy has short, dirty blonde hair that falls into slight bangs on his forehead. His mouth is slightly parted, revealing the tiniest gap between his front teeth. An awkward smile is plastered on his face while he asks if I’m ok.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” He asks. “I’m so sorry. I’m new here. My name is Aris.”

“My name is Newt,” I reply. “You don’t have to be sorry. I’m perfectly alright.”

“Are you sure?” Aris asks. “I’m just so clumsy, I swear.”

“It’s alright mate,” I say, desperately trying to keep the slightly attractive boy down. “You can make it up to me by helping me with this bloody wall.”

“Y- you’re British!” Aris practically screams. “Oh my gosh, I love British accents. You have absolutely no idea!”

I smile as the boy continues to coo at me. At one point, I start laughing as he messily tries to fix the part of the wall he messed up. We go to patch the same part at once, and our hands touch. His face goes red, and I feel mine going slightly pink. Maybe this boy isn’t going to be so bad. He isn’t Thomas, but maybe that’s a good thing. I look over to see if I can see Thomas, and I regret finding him. He’s glued to that Brenda girl like this wood is glued to my hand. Aris messily pours some liquid that holds the wood together.

“You have no idea how good it feels to laugh again,” Aris tells me. “I used to live with a ton of survivors, but the cranks broke into our village. I haven’t seen any survivors since.”

“That’s the third local attack,” I say, absentmindedly gluing more of the wall together. “Do you think more cranks are being attracted here?”

The boy doesn’t answer me. I feel like I am saying something that he’s thinking, so we just continue on the wall in silence. Occasionally we brush our hands or shoulders together, and it sends shivers through my body. I make it a point sometimes to brush our hands together just to see his reaction. His face goes a little pink and then fades back to his natural pale color.

“Glad to see you remember I exist,” Teresa mutters on the other side of the wall. “You meet a boy, and then you forget about me. Show some manners, Newt.”

Aris looks at her as if he was caught stealing. I laugh, placing my hand on his shoulder. He looks at me, then at her, and then smiles. I think he finally gets that she’s joking, so we get back to work on the project at hand. Speaking of hands, mine starts getting sore, so I ask Teresa if we get breaks.

“Does lunch count as a break?” She asks, and I nod my head. “Then yeah, some Gladers are grabbing some grub as we speak.”

Teresa hops over the wall, and Aris follows us as we run over to Frypan. When we ask when lunch is, he tells us that nothing is made. I remember that I have food from the gas station, but it’s in Thomas’ room. The three of us journey over to the house that both Teresa and Thomas sleep in, and she opens the door for us to go inside. We travel up the stairs, and I try to open Thomas’ door. It’s locked. I knock instead.

“Get the door, Tommy.” A female voice rings out, and I can feel my heart tear in half.

“Hello?” Thomas says, and cracks open the door. “Newt!”

Thomas doesn’t have a shirt, and the rest of him is concealed by the door. Teresa gasps, I feel a tear streak down my face, and Aris has a confused look on his face. Thomas looks at the three of us, and then his gaze falls onto me. My mouth goes dry, and my hand skyrockets to my face to wipe the lone tear.

“I just- um… wanted to get the food we got at the gas station.” I choke out. “It looks like you’re a little busy at the moment, so I think I will eat later.”

“Nice one, Thomas.” Teresa spits at him, as I run out of the house as fast as I can. “Just fantastic.”

I know that Thomas would eventually find someone, but it never occurred to me how I would feel about it. Seeing Thomas like that broke my heart into a million pieces. She used my nickname. _My_ nickname. That bitch, I should gut her for that! As soon as I get out of the house, I start running. I don’t know where I am going, but I am going somewhere other than here. I don’t stop when I pass the walls. I just keep going. I run and I run until my bag leg starts hurting. Then I slow down, and I just stop. I feel so hurt that I don’t think even crying can describe how I feel. Instead, I don’t. I don’t feel sadness, but I feel something on a much worse level. I can’t even cry because I don’t even know where to begin. I can’t see straight, and my vision starts to get blurry.

“Newt!” Aris yells. “Newt, a crank!”

I snap into focus just as one takes me out from behind. I hold my arm up against the cranks neck, preventing it from biting me. I feel its claws scrape against my clothing, and I think that this is the end for me. My arm starts hurting, and it frantically claws at my shirt to reveal some skin. The weight of the crank gets thrown off of me. I look up, and Aris is hitting it with a giant stick. Eventually, the crank stops moving, and Aris runs over to inspect me.

“Do you just run into the woods like this all the time?” He asks- no screams, as he makes sure that I’m not hurt. “How stupid was that?! You almost got killed!”

“I know,” I say, and Aris takes a step back in surprise. “That boy you saw, I like him. He doesn’t like me. I don’t know why I’m telling you, but I don’t want you to think I’m just some loon that runs into the forest for a joy ride. Seeing him with that girl just kind of sent me over the edge, and I didn’t know how to handle it.”

“I know exactly how you feel,” Aris mutters. “I liked this one guy named Steven. He fell in love with a girl named Sonya. Every time I so much as looked at them, I would always feel like I lost him. It doesn’t get easier either.”

I give him the tiniest of smiles, and he helps me up. Together, we return to the Glade, and it’s way past lunchtime. My stomach hurts, but so does my heart. Aris follows me, and I find Teresa later on. Instead of saying anything, she extends her arms for me to hug her. I do, and I feel like crying all over again. This is when I realize that Aris and Teresa are my best friends. These are the two people that I know I can trust. I trust Aris with my life because he sure saved it earlier. I look at him, and I smile. I know that I can get through this whole Thomas situation.

“Are you going to be ok?” Teresa asks, and I nod my head.

She puts her arm around my shoulder, and Aris does the same. I feel kind of happy, knowing that I have two really good friends by my side. I catch Aris’ eyes, and he goes red. I smile at him, and he returns a shy, awkward one back. Maybe things are going to be okay after all.

“With you two by my side?” I ask. “Absolutely.”

“I totally forgot about my food,” Teresa says, handing Aris and I each a bag of jerky. “A woman has got to eat you know.”

“Thanks, T,” I reply, already eating the jerky. “I forgot how much I love this stuff. Probably one of the last bags on Earth too.”

As I eat, Teresa converses with Aris about what his life used to be like. I cannot stop thinking about the girl he keeps mentioning- Sonya. My sister’s name is Sonya, but I know in my heart that she is most likely dead. The way Aris describes her (“She even looks a little like you, Newt.”) makes me feel like she could be my sister. If she is, then did she make it out of the crank attack Aris talks about when he mentions his old friends.

“Did Sonya ever talk about having a brother?” I ask, feeding into my curiosity… and the jerky that Teresa gave me.

“Yeah,” Aris says, eyeing me suspiciously. “She said that she got separated from him a long time ago. Something about her making it onto a train, but he didn’t.”

I choke on a piece of jerky, and both Teresa and Aris beat on my back. It eventually goes down, but I am certain that the Sonya that Aris is talking about is my Sonya. My baby sister. The one that I lost, and tried to find. Now the question is where is she, and is she alive?

“Where did you used to live before coming here?” I ask Aris, in a subtle way. “Just trying to get a picture in my head.”

“Not very far from here actually,” Aris admits. “I think maybe twenty miles or so north, and you are bound to see one of our structures.”

We finish our meal, of sorts, in awkward silence. Teresa keeps eyes me, and Aris continues to chow down nonchalantly. When I finish, I get up, and I start walking around the place. I engage into mindless chit-chat with random Gladers. My thoughts race from Sonya to Thomas to Brenda and back to Sonya. I have so many thoughts rushing to my head, and so little emotions to describe them. There aren’t enough feelings and worst to explain how I feel right now. Is it possible to feel overwhelming joy that my sister could be alive and feel the most bitter sadness that Thomas is moving on with his life without me?

I start walking around the unfinished wall, and I think back to the one in our old Glade. I wonder what is happening to it right now. Are cranks still there? Did someone else find it, and inhabit it? Will we be able to thrive somewhere that isn’t the Glade? I have way too many questions, but there just isn’t a way to solve all of them. I round a corner, and I almost run into somebody. I look up, and Thomas is staring at me, with a completely shocked expression. My mouth hangs open, and I just stand there.

“Hey.” He says to me, apparently trying to break some ice.

“You were right about the barrier between us,” I reply, putting as much acid into my voice as possible. “I may have put it up, but you made it so much bigger. If you ever look at me and think that I’m the one who caused us to drift apart, just remember the part you played as well.”

I walk away from Thomas, who stands there with his jaw hanging open now. I classify it as a win in my book, and I feel satisfied for the night. I go over to Aris, who is wandering the Gladerhood, wondering what to do. He looks at me, and his eyes light up at the sight of me. I smile at him, and I start talking to him.

“Did they find you a place to sleep yet?” I ask the boy, who is fumbling with his hands while we talk.

“No,” Aris replies. “I guess I’ll just sleep on the ground.

“I sleep in a tree.” I retort. “Beat that.”

“I’d love to sleep in a tree,” Aris says, daring me to make my next move. “Can I?”

“Sleep with me?” I ask.

Aris’ eyes narrow, and his face gets really flustered. I start laughing, and it only adds to the embarrassment on Aris’ face. Eventually, I calm down, but pink is still evident on his face. I don’t think he’s going to speak to me, so him suddenly talking actually startles me.

“N- not like that!” Aris replies, getting flustered. “I meant is there room up there for two?”

“I can make some,” I reply, with a grin on my face.

Eventually, Aris and I end up climbing up the tree I slept in last night. Turns out, there’s perfect room for two. I let Aris sleep on a branch shaped like a chair just a little above me, but somehow, we manage to end up falling asleep snuggled up together. It’s almost perfect, except Aris isn’t Thomas. I’m still deciding whether or not it’s a good thing or a bad thing.


	15. Celebrating With Style

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is the one week Gladerhood anniversary. Newt and Thomas get into an argument.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember that funny moment where I said I was getting my shit together and start updating on time? Haha, yeah well I'm a liar. My sincerest thank you to those who took the time to say they're sorry about the dumb shit going on in my life. I wish I could say it's getting better but it isn't. Isaiah is just an asshole, and honestly, I'm so sick of being depressed over his stupid shit. It's hard to edit this stuff because I wrote this long before I met Isaiah, and it's just scarily accurate to what is actually going on in my life, so it makes me sad when I read it and all. Leave a kudos and a comment because those make my day, and inspire me to continue on with this story. Like I'm actually shook going through these chapters and realizing how I relate so much to Newt lol, and it just sucks. Have a blessed day, and I hope everyone had a great holidays/New Years.

It’s the one week anniversary of our Gladerhood. Much is still to be done, but Minho says we should all take a day of relaxation and rehabilitation. I, along with multiple other Gladers, ignore the whole ‘relaxation’ bit. In the last few days, I’ve managed to build a small farm near my tree. Since my tree is close to the southeast corner, I decided to build it at the corner. It’s one yard away from the sides of the wall, and around five yards away from my tree. I can expand it if I want to, but it’s big enough for now.

Aris and I have been getting much closer too, over the last few days. He helps me a lot in the garden with weeding, plowing, and watering. I don’t have much growing in the farm, but I do have a lot growing between Aris and I. All he seems to want to do is help me out, and I never stop him from doing so. It’s gone from my farm to our farm in the matter of a day.

We’ve collected wood, and we are now we are trying to make a wooden outline around the garden. There isn’t much of a purpose to it, but it looks really nice. We cut the leftover wood into stakes, and now I have a grapevine growing. Aris looks over at me, as we are currently weeding the garden, with an exhausted expression.

“You know I love helping and all, but we should really take a rest,” Aris says. “Mostly everyone is celebrating right now. I know you don’t want to run into Thomas and the girl, but I bet Teresa would love it if we joined her.”

“I’m not going to argue with you, Aris,” I say. “You can join her if you’d like, but I’m staying here.

“No, you’re not,” Aris says, with an evil gleam in his eye. “You’re coming with me.”

I want to argue a little longer, but his smaller hand wraps around mine, and he starts pulling me over to where a large group of Gladers is located. My brain takes the time to consider whether Aris’ touch is bad or not, and I cannot seem to focus on him dragging me along. My brain is to blame when he manages to lead me to a giant Glader party that Minho is throwing behind one of the houses in the Gladerhood. I curse Aris a couple of times, but then my eyes catch Teresa. She notices us, and her face quickly brightens up as she runs over to us.

“Guys!” Teresa says, giving us a hug as if we haven’t seen her in a long time. “Glad Aris managed to get you to come. I couldn’t keep my eyes off of the garden. You two should have came a while ago.”

“Yeah, I dragged him here surprisingly easy,” Aris says, with a proud smirk. “It was as if his mind was somewhere else, and he just didn’t notice he was coming until he got here.”

Teresa and Aris start laughing, and I just try to hide the red slowly creeping into my cheeks. Teresa leads us closer to the crowd, and I really just want to run away from here. I hate being in large, noisy groups when there are monsters in the world that are attracted to sound. Call me crazy, but I think this is a terrible idea.

“I’d like to say something,” Minho shouts, trying to calm the place down. “Starting tomorrow, we will be accepting tryouts to become a runner. Everyone that was a runner back in the Glade have to retest. I don’t know why, but I feel like it, so you will have to deal with it. We’re going to start our jobs again like it used to be. Old guards will have to choose another job until we set up a guard post or something.”

“Way to kill the mood,” Aris whispers to me. “Talking about working when we’re supposed to be having fun. What a real party animal he is.”

I start laughing, and I lightly punch his arm. Aris’ face goes red, and he turns away from me. Teresa starts conversing with other Gladers and progressively fades from my line of vision. Someone else appears in it, and my smile drops to the ground. Aris and I stare as Thomas approaches us.

“You and I need to talk,” Thomas says, staring me directly in the eye. “Again.”

“Sorry, but I really would not like to talk to you,” I say, grasping my hands together to avoid clenching my fists. “Every time I do, I run into the woods, and I break down sobbing. I really want to avoid that, seeing as this is a day to celebrate. Good talk though.”

I feel really guilty for talking to Thomas they way I do, but I just cannot help the burning anger that Thomas is having sex with someone that isn’t me. I feel my heart shattering into pieces as I turn around to walk away from Thomas, which seems to be becoming a bad habit. I meet Aris’ eyes, and they are filled with so much sadness and pity, I want to vomit. A hand grasps my arm, and I realize that it isn’t Aris. I turn around to see Thomas looking at me with needy, puppy-dog eyes.

“Please just talk to me,” Thomas says. “I don’t know what to do to get us back to the way things used to be.”

“You couldn’t have given me a week grace period, Thomas?” I spit. “You must have known I was trying to move on, but then you just hop in bed with Brenda. How could you possibly think that wouldn’t hurt me? I get that you shouldn’t pause your life for me, but you could have given me a chance to breathe! I just wasn’t prepared to see you with someone else, and I just wasn’t prepared to see you with someone that isn’t me. Excuse me if it hurts, but I don’t care. I have the right to feel however I want to feel. You don’t have to have me in your life the way I want to be, but I can sure cut you out of mine as well.”

I regret freaking out like that because a few Gladers are looking at me, and red instantly rushes to my cheeks. It’s even worse when I realize that Minho is one of those people, and I want to cry again. For some reason, I don’t. I pull out of Thomas’ grasp, which is easy because he’s in a state of shock. His eyes have this level of sadness I didn’t think a human was capable of having. Aris’ eyes never leave me. I put my arm around his shoulder, and we walk away, leaving a few stunned Gladers, an even more shocked Minho, and a Thomas that I don’t care about anymore. I just want to get out.

Teresa notices us leaving, breaks from the crowd of Gladers, and runs to us. Thomas, clearly stunned by her move, follows her. Minho, wanting to get caught up on everything that’s happening, follows Thomas. By the time I get to my tree with Aris, Teresa catches up with me. Behind her, Thomas and Minho look at us, specifically me.

“You’re siding with him?” Thomas asks Teresa, clearly offended by his friend’s action.

“Of course, you slinthead!” Teresa screams. “Why wouldn’t I cheer one of my best friends up when my other best friend breaks his heart?”

“Maybe my heart is broken too!” Thomas screams, and my mind wants to run over and comfort him. 

“You’re making that clear!” Teresa spits, sarcastically. “By hopping into bed with Brenda, a day or so after you freaking meet her! What the hell was that about! It just seems like you  _ want _ to hurt Newt.”

“That was such a low blow, Teresa.” Thomas says, pain in his eyes.”

“No,” Teresa says, about to give the final swing, ending this conversation. “What you did with Brenda was a low-blow. She probably did that to you too!”

If I wasn’t in so much shock, I probably would be laughing right now. Teresa is smoking Thomas’ ass in the argument, but I cannot help but think that this is all my fault. Aris starts rubbing my arm apologetically, and I don’t even stop him. At this point, I just need a hug. I want some comforting, but at the same time, I don’t want anyone near me right now. I just want to be alone, but I also don’t want to feel as much pain in my heart as I am feeling right now.

“Newt,” Teresa calls me into battle. “Care to share your feelings in this conversation?”

“I’ve made my feelings abundantly clear,” I say, wishing this whole day would end. “That’s what started this whole mess in the first place. If you want honesty from me, I honestly wish I didn’t like Thomas. I wish I still didn’t like Thomas, but I do. I can’t help that. Thomas, you make me want to cry. All of you do in a way. I just wish I never came to the Glade at this point. Maybe I wouldn’t be feeling the immense pain that I do now. If there was anywhere for me to go, I would leave.”

When those last few words leave my mouth, it’s like everyone’s breath at the same time leaves their bodies. Mine included in that bunch. Tears start rolling down my cheeks, and Aris gives me a huge hug. Minho runs over to hug me, as well as Teresa. Thomas makes a move too, but Teresa shouts something at him that I don’t hear. I think my brain blocks it out to prevent me any more sadness, so instead, Thomas stands there knowing that there’s nothing he can do.

“I’m sorry I make you feel this way,” Thomas mutters and walks away.

“I’m going to vomit,” I say, and Minho’s the only one who stops hugging me.

“We don’t care if you vomit,” Teresa says, squeezing harder. “You need comforting, and we’re here for you.”

“I’ll hug ya, you shank, but you better not throw up on me,” Minho says, rejoining the group hug. “If you do, I’ll feed ya to the cranks.”

We break the hug after a while. Minho desperately wants to know what the hell this whole thing was about. Teresa and I work together on telling Minho everything, and Aris just listens in. By the time we finish, Minho is up to speed on everything. He apologizes to me, and I just shrug it off like I’m not in the worst emotional pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Maybe second worst. Losing my sister is pretty hard to top. Losing Thomas though, it’s a close second.

“Well this is a really shucked up situation,” Minho says, processing all the information that we give him. “I cannot believe Thomas doesn’t like you. Even I thought he was head over heels for you.”

“Didn’t everyone?” Teresa asks, rhetorically. “Even after all of this, I still think he likes you, Newt. He just doesn’t treat anyone the same way he treats you.”

“I just wish he liked me the way I like him,” I mutter, tears threatening to spill from my eyes. “It just sucks knowing that he doesn’t like me like that and that there’s nothing I can do to change his mind.”

Teresa is at a loss for words, and that says a lot. Aris remains silent, but likely strokes my arm with his hand. I feel like if I had not lost Thomas before, I certainly lost him now. It’s so hard to live with the fact that Thomas will never like me. It’s like if you knew the world would never heal again, would you still try and fix it?

“I’m going to go talk to Thomas,” Minho says, unsure of whether or not he wants to leave. “I don’t know what I’m going to say, but I think once I get him started, he’s going to be doing most of the talking. I’ll get back to you shanks later.”

“I should go too,” Teresa says, looking at me. “I’m going to spy on Minho, and make sure he doesn’t say anything stupid or out of line.”

She walks away, leaving Aris and I alone. He looks at me but doesn’t say anything. I start to think to myself about everything. By everything, I mean just Sonya and Thomas. Sonya could be alive. If she’s alive, then I need to find her, right. After the four or so years that I’ve been alone, I allow myself to feel some hope that Sonya is alive.

“Aris,” I say, getting his attention.

“Yeah?” Aris asks, his mind probably racing with possibilities of what I’m about to ask.

“Do you think you could take me to find my sister?” I ask, and his eyes widen. “If there’s even the slightest chance that she is alive, then I need to go and find her.”

“Yeah,” Aris replies. “I can take you to our old campsite. “What if she’s found some other settlement? What if there are more surviving members of my old camp, and she’s leading them again?”

“Then we’re leaving the Gladerhood.” I reply, sure that I’m leaving one way or another.


	16. Goodbye Gladerhood

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aris and Newt leave the Gladerhood, but a few inconveniences get in the way beforehand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, this is the first on-time update I believe for a while. No, that does not mean that everything is okay. Isaiah has made no attempts to make anything better between us. Hell, Friday I cried so hard that I started to get pains in my heart. It was like my heart literally hurt to beat, and I thought I was going to have to call the hospital. Life lesson: don't fall in love, and if you do, don't fall in love with an asshole that doesn't care about your feelings. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this sad chapter. It's probably one of the saddest things I have ever written for the saddest moment in my entire life. Leave a kudos and a comment since those make my day. I love you guys and thank you to those who keep asking if I'm okay. I'm fine.

Aris and I wait until the next day before we decide that going to find my sister is the smartest approach. Aris and I pack lightly. Nothing is in our bags except food, water, and a knife. Aris and I exchange glances as we pack, not daring to make a sound. It’s really early in the morning, and nobody is awake. We don’t want to wake them up because it could endanger our mission.

“You sure about this?” Aris asks, knowing that we’re probably going to end up going anyways. “I know you might be making this decision because you’re upset.”

“I’m sure this is the right decision,” I reply, ignoring the internal conflict inside my mind. “I need to at least try and find my sister.”

We walk around the Gladerhood, and I start noticing a few things. The wall is getting higher, for starters. Eventually, this wall is going to be really big. Aris and I aren’t going to be here to see it, but I imagine that this place is going to be amazing. I look at my garden. I wonder if it’s going to die while I’m gone. Will anybody notice that I’m missing? What if they send search parties for Aris and I? Should we tell Teresa what we are doing, so that they aren’t worried about us? I toss that thought out of my head completely. I cannot have the slightest chance of someone ruining my plan. I need to find my sister, and nobody is going to screw it up for me.

I look at the tree that I sleep in, and I cannot help but think of the reason that I sleep in the tree. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t told Thomas that I like him. Would we be sleeping in the same bed together right now, instead of Aris and I preparing to leave this place behind? Would I even be friends with Aris if Thomas didn’t break my heart? I look over to Aris, and I can’t help, but feel bad for him. This is supposed to be his home too, and he is willing to throw it all away because of my emotional decision making, and the very unlikely chance that my sister is actually alive. Why is he even coming with me? Nobody in their right mind would do the things that Aris is doing for me.

I look over at the dirty blonde boy. He catches my eye and gives me a reassuring smile. I suddenly feel a lot more comfortable that I am leaving with him. I don’t know if I would be able to do it without him. Perhaps he realizes this too, and that’s the reason he is coming with me, instead of staying in a safe place like the Gladerhood. I smile back at him, and I brush our shoulders together. He starts giggling like a child, and we eventually realize that it is going to be light soon, so we need to get moving.

Aris and I start walking over to the northern wall of the Glade. Aris’ old camp is north from here. All we have to do is walk fifteen to twenty miles, and then we can start looking for my sister. If I get there, and there is nothing to find, then I’ll keep looking. I need to either find her dead body or her herself. I won’t even entertain the thought of going back to the Gladerhood until I do just that. Aris and I eventually do reach the northern wall, but we hear someone approach us. 

“What are you guys doing up?” A voice calls from behind me. “What are you two doing?”

Aris and I turn around, pale in the face, to see Thomas walking over to us. In the distance, Teresa is also walking around. She notices us too, and runs over. We are so caught. I look at Thomas, then Teresa, and then Aris. I’m trying to think of an excuse why I’m up so early, wearing a backpack full of supplies. I come up short.

“Would you believe me if I say I’m going bear hunting?” I ask, and Thomas shakes his head.

“Are you two leaving?” Teresa asks, frantic. “Why?”

“Is it because of me?” Thomas asks, and I don’t know what to say. “Please tell me you aren’t leaving. I know we’re going through a tough time, but we’ll be friends again eventually. This isn’t something you need to run away from.”

Thomas and Teresa start babbling on at me about why I should stay, and it dawns on me that I might not have been thinking about coming back either way. That the part of me that doesn’t believe my sister is alive just wants to leave the Glade period. I realize why I want to leave the Glade, and it isn’t because I don’t belong.

“Yes,” I say, earning a surprised look from everyone, including Aris, who probably thought I was going to come up with an excuse.

“Why?” Thomas asks, sadness consuming him. “Is it because of me?”

“Also yes,” I reply, honestly. “Also, because of me. You want the truth, everyone? I am really just mad at you because I can’t stand seeing you with someone that isn’t me. Call me selfish, but I don’t think I can stay here without being with you. I know that you don’t want to be with me, so I can’t sit back, and watch you move on with someone else. I can’t lose your heart to another one, Tommy. I can’t watch you start a life with someone that isn’t me. To think that you and Brenda have a future together, and we don’t, is the worst thought that I can think. This is the reason I can’t stay. I can’t watch you grow old with someone else. I can’t watch you  _ love _ somebody else because damnit Thomas, I love you!”

Once again, everyone looks at me with shocked faces. Thomas’ jaw looks like it wants to marry the ground, and I can no longer stop tears from running down my cheeks. Teresa has her hands on her head as if she can barely comprehend the words I just uttered. Teresa, in the end, breaks the awkward silence lingering in the air.

“I’m coming with you,” Teresa says, and Thomas turns to her, sadness written across his face. “You can’t say no. I’ll eat dirt if there isn’t enough food, you two are not going without me.”

“We can wait for you to get supplies,” Aris says, and Teresa nods. “Just don’t wake anyone else in the Gladerhood up.”

Teresa runs behind one of the five houses, leaving Thomas standing in disbelief. I start to pity Thomas because I understand his confusion. All he is guilty of is falling in love with Brenda, and I’m treating him like he has committed murder. I start feeling guilty about leaving, but my mind is made up. I walk over to Thomas, and I pull him into a tight embrace. Thomas’ last defenses break, and he’s a sobbing wreck in my arms.

“P-please.” Thomas cries. “D- don’t go. We c-can make this right.”

“I have to,” I say, holding him in my arms. “I just have t- to go. You have no idea how much this hurts me. This kind of sadness is way too much for my brain to comprehend right now. I’m just afraid it will all come crashing down on me at once. I can’t be around for you to see me like this. Progressively getting sadder and sadder each day, knowing that I’ll never feel relief. You don’t love me, Tommy. As selfish stupid as it sounds, I just can’t watch you spend your life with someone else. I’m not doing this to hurt you. You have to understand that.”

Thomas cries in my shirt, and I too, feel tears falling. Aris watches us, tears running down his face too. It’s just too much sadness, and I suddenly feel too weak to leave. I know that if Teresa doesn’t come back soon, I won’t be able to say goodbye to Thomas, the boy that I love. Yes, I admit it. I love Thomas. I’m too in love with him for my own good, so I have to leave before I can’t go on without him anymore. 

“P-please, Newt please.” Thomas sobs. “I don’t want this. I don’t want you gone! You can’t just leave.”

Teresa comes back, and I feel a weight on my chest. I look at Teresa, knowing that if I let Thomas continue, I’m eventually going to lose this argument. Teresa yanks us apart, and Thomas falls to the ground. He sits, and watches us, knees curled to his chest, knowing that I’m leaving. Knowing that there is nothing that he can do about it.

“Newt,” Thomas says. “Come back one day. It’s already hard enough watching you suffer day by day seeing me with someone else. It’s even harder letting you go. It’s going to be insufferable knowing that you’re never coming back. Tell me that you’ll at least come back, one day, even to visit. I’m desperate, ok?”

“I will.” I lie. “I’ll visit you, someday.”

“Promise?” Thomas asks, eyes filling with so much hope that it pains me to even look at him.

I know that at this point I am willing to tell him anything that I need to tell him in order for him to let us leave without alerting any of the other Gladers. Thomas is standing right in front of me, his eyes red, tears streaming down his face, and snot dripping out of his nose. It hollows me out to see him like this, but I know in my mind that this is the best thing for me to do. I have to find my sister, and it is just time for Aris, Teresa, and I to leave the Gladerhood. 

“I promise.” I lie right through my teeth. “We have to go now.”

Aris leads the way, Teresa stands with him, and I fall a little behind, trying to savor every second I am still in the Gladerhood. Thomas runs over to me and pulls me into one last hug. I sink into it, trying to take in as much of Thomas as I can. I do this because I know that this is the last time I will ever see him, even if he thinks that it isn’t. He lets go of me and places a kiss on my forehead. I turn away, tears sliding down my cheek, and dripping to the ground from my chin. Thomas starts wiping them away as they come.

“I love you, Thomas,” I say, before suddenly running away from him because if I didn’t at that moment, I never would have left.

Teresa and Aris wait for me to catch up, and we boost each other over the wall. I am the last to go over, so Aris lays on the top, and extends his hand for me to take it. I do, and he lifts me on top of the wall. We jump off together, and we start walking toward the forest in front of us. I take one last, long look at the Glade. It gets smaller and smaller as I get farther and farther away. Eventually, it disappears completely. What remaining strong part of me crumbles to dust, and I start crying. Teresa and Aris fall back to comfort me, and I stagger in my steps.

“We can go back,” Teresa says, knowing that we really aren’t. “Do you want to go back?”

“No,” I say, slowly shaking off the tears. “Let’s go find my sister. Then we’ll decide what to do from there.”

Leaving the Gladerhood is definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Now that I’m gone from it, it’s getting much easier to keep putting distance between it. Only because at the same time, I’m also putting distance between me and where Thomas is going to live his life without me. I know that it must not be easy for Thomas right now, but he will be happy that I’m gone later. I’ll be happy that I’m gone later. I feel bad for lying to him, but maybe that spark of hope I gave him will last him a lifetime. Hopefully, he will forget about me, and he will forget the promise that I made him, not intending to keep. After all, when you love someone like how I love Thomas, you have to let that person be happy. You have to let that person live their life, even if they don’t want you to be in it.


	17. Finding Sonya: Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt, Aris, and Teresa are on their journey to hopefully find Newt's sister Sonya.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm a few days late because I've been spending most of my free time locked away in my room in the dark with my head in my knees sobbing. Don't worry, once I get my antidepressants, hopefully, I will be able to keep updating on time. This is just really hard to actually edit anymore because it is so alike my own heartbreak that it gets to be too much just reading it. I wrote most of this work before I even met Isaiah, so the fact that this storyline is identical to what I'm going though scares me. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Give it a kudos, and drop a comment because they make my day. Love you guys so much, and I'm so surprised this hit 1000 hits.

Being surrounded by forest again fills me with this sense of independency and pride. It reminds me of back before the Glade, when I used to survive on my own. In the short few weeks at the Glade and Gladerhood, so much about me has changed. To think of who I used to be before the Glade is like remembering a stranger. Now, I am moving on from the Glade with Aris and Teresa by my side. Now I am in search of my sister, and I have high hopes that I just might find her, after being separated for so long now.

Aris, Teresa, and I walk through the deep forest. We try to stay clear of tall grass, berries that cannot be deemed poisonous or nonpoisonous, and cranks of any kind. We’ve only run into one crank since leaving the Gladerhood, and it almost killed Aris. To think that Aris came so close to death like that really scares me. At least we are even from when he saved me.

Now we are just strolling through the forest silently. Nobody speaks because there isn’t much to talk about. The plan is simple. We need to get to Aris’ old camp, find my sister dead or alive, and then we decide what to do from there. There are many possibilities we can do when we find her. It just depends whether or not we find her alive or dead. If she’s alive, what we do depends on whether or not she has found another place to live. If she’s dead, we either try to find more survivors from Aris’ camp, or we simply head back to the Glade. We can live on our own either way and simply not return to the Glade at all.

“Do you think your sister could be alive?” Aris asks, walking right beside me. “I know we wouldn’t be out here if you didn’t at least believe it slightly. I’m just wondering what you think we’re going to find out there.”

“I just want to either find her alive or find her body,” I say. “She could even be a crank. If she is, then I guess we will have to-”

“Let’s not think about killing your sister, Newt,” Teresa says, solemnly. “I get sibling rivalry and everything, but let’s make sure you still have a sibling to compete with.”

I get that Teresa is trying to joke around to break the ice. Minho would be able to do that without even opening his mouth. I don’t laugh, but I am sent into a fit of laughter when Aris trips over a tree root. He starts laughing too, face down on the ground but is ok nevertheless. We help him up, and we continue our way down the forest.

I should have taken boredom into consideration when deciding to leave the Gladerhood. I’m so bored right now, that I might just pick a fight with a crank to have something to do. All Teresa, Aris, and I are doing is walking. Teresa tries to play eye-spy with Aris, but it gets boring after a while. We walk in tense silence, but then something cracks behind us, sending us all in alert. Knives are in all of our hands, ready for a crank assault. It doesn’t come though.

I pick up a rock off of the ground, and I throw it at a nearby tree. It hits the tree with a loud sound, and a crank comes tearing through some tall grass and runs at the tree. It runs into the tree to be more exact and falls limp to the ground. Teresa is hysterical at that because cranks can be incredibly stupid sometimes. It doesn’t help them that they are attracted to sound because then it can be used to take them down.

“Well, that was something.” Teresa sighs, and continues walking ahead. “Glad to see at least something happen in this boring old forest. I’ve never seen a duller place in my life.”

“The Gladerhood isn’t that much more interesting,” Aris mentions, and I wince at the mention of my old home. “I mean- all we did was work. Build this, grow that. It gets kind of tedious. We got one day where we didn’t have to work to the bone. My first day was even filled with work.”

“You wouldn’t have met such amazing friends like Teresa and I if you had not been working so hard,” I say, trying to look on the bright side. “So working got you somewhere.”

“Got me seven miles deep in the forest.” Aris groans. “I think it’s seven miles so far. It feels like seven.”

“It feels like a hundred and one,” Teresa complains. “I’d say nine miles.”

Aris and Teresa start getting into a heated argument about how far we are. I’m shocked we’re even seven miles away from the Gladerhood. We’ve been walking since a little before the light of dawn, and now the sun is almost directly overhead. I assume we’ve been walking for a good four hours or so. I begin to wonder how Aris even got around the same area of the Gladerhood in the first place.

“I can’t believe you walked here,” I tell Aris. “We’ve been walking for so long now, and I just can’t imagine you just stumbling upon us.”

“Well first of all, we’ve been walking for like two hours,” Aris says, and I look up at the sky. “The sun is just barely peeking out of the clouds.”

Looks like I’m hallucinating. After all, someone is bound to go insane after walking in the forest for a long time. I try to keep my mind occupied by doing what I used to do back when I traveled alone. I start picking up as many rocks as I can, just random rocks off of the ground, and I put them in my pocket. Teresa eyes me but doesn’t ask about it. Whenever my pockets are full, I take them out one at a time, and I start throwing them at trees. It gets harder as I try to hit trees that are farther away, but it helps me in case there are cranks around.

Aris looks at what I am doing and decides to do the same thing. Teresa shrugs and decides to try anything that might stop her from being bored. Eventually, my ears are filled with endless bangs bouncing tree to tree. It even turns into a competition when Teresa says she can hit more trees than Aris. We even end up breaking into full speed running, hitting every single tree in sight.

“What are we doing with our lives?” I ask, laughing “We are seriously bored. I need something to happen. Anything at all. Please.”

Nothing happens. That’s the problem. Nothing is happening, and it’s supposed to be the apocalypse. You would think there would be more cranks, but we are pretty deep in the forest. Humanity barely touched this place before the apocalypse, let alone when there are very few humans left. I bet even the crank population is going down. Maybe if they all starve to death, then the world can become ok again.

“I think I see something,” Aris says when the game is well over. “It’s a river.”

We start running straight ahead, and we come across a river going straight north. It couldn’t possibly be in a better location because we’re traveling north. In case we ever need to come back to the Gladerhood, this will be a great placemark. We decide to travel beside it because it’s one direction we don’t need to defend cranks from, and unlimited water as long as we can make a fire. I can make a fire. If I couldn’t, then I would have been dead a long time ago.

“I wish this river could be more interesting,” Aris complains. “Oh wait a minute! Our camp was built by a river, but I don’t recognize this part of it. We must be on the same river, but it’s farther up!”

“You’re just remembering that?” I ask, staring in disbelief. “I get you haven’t been there in a while, but you would think after living there for some time, you would get familiar with the geography.”

Aris ignores me, but we do pick up our pace when we get to the river. I have never felt more excited in my entire life. I can already picture my sister’s little face staring at me once again. She probably isn’t young looking anymore. Will I remember what she looks like? Will she even recognize me? What do I even say to someone I haven’t seen in years, and in the apocalypse? I imagine different scenarios playing out, but I cannot help but smile at the possibility of seeing my sister again. My mood darkens when I recognize the fact that she might be dead, or I might have to fight the crank version of her.

How can I kill my own sister if she is a crank? I tell myself that it would be a mercy act, but at the back of my mind, I cannot help but think that it would still be murder. If my sister is a crank, I can’t keep her alive either. That would be cruel. I don’t notice that I’m trailing behind until Aris notices that I’m a few yards back. He slows down and lets me catch up. I thank him, and we continue on our way.

“How long can this river possibly extend?” Teresa asks, in a miserable tone. “I seriously cannot take one more second of nothingness.”

She gets her wish. Three cranks hop out from behind a forest at full speed and run straight at her. Aris and I run up to each side of her, and we all stab at each crank. I take down the one that I decide to kill, and I help Aris kill his. By the time we’re done killing it, Teresa’s crank is dead too. Is it just me, or are these creatures getting harder to kill? Aris’ crank tried to grab Aris’ knife as if he knew what it was.

The attention attracts five more cranks, and I take on two at a time. One rushes faster than the other, and bolts straight at me. I move out of the way, sending it flying into the river. I stab the other one in the heart, and it falls to the ground. Teresa takes a crank down, and Aris desperately tries to fight two at the same time. I run over and stab on in the side of the skull. Aris stabs the other one in the chest and pushes it into the river. The cranks grab Aris’ arm, sending him flying into the air with the crank. I grab onto Aris’ hand, and they both dangle off of a small drop into the river. Aris kicks the crank with his foot, sending it falling into the river below. I’ve never seen a crank able to think like that. Aris’ shocked expression tells me the same thing. I pull him back up on the ground, and he thanks me.

“I’ve never seen cranks do that,” Aris says, out of breath. “It’s like they are getting smarter.”

“I don’t understand how they would be,” Teresa says, relieved to see Aris is ok. “They don’t have brains, and they don’t think.”

It baffles me how the crank was able to react to Aris shoving him off of the edge the way it did. First, it seems to know that it’s supposed to not let me stab it, and now it knows how to take someone out with it? Cranks, as far as I knew, only knew how to kill, even if it meant hurting itself in the process. It seems as though the cranks are starting to react better, and recognize if something is going to kill it.

“We need to keep moving,” Teresa says. “Aris’ camp isn’t going to find itself.”

We don’t move much farther when Aris starts talking about how certain rocks look familiar, and how he thinks he has seen the same river-bend before. It isn’t until we go up one more hill before Teresa stops dead in her tracks. Aris stops next to her, and I stop right next to Aris. I smile, and we all start cheering at the sight in front of us.

Small buildings in the distance grab all of our attention, and I get the urge to just scream. I’m so happy that we are finally here, that I forget everything in the moment, and I start running toward it. Teresa and Aris follow me, and we arrive at a metal gate. The metal bars have a thin coat of black paint, and I push it open. When I do, I catch the attention of several cranks looming in the area. Teresa, Aris, and I start attacking them.

“This is so much harder now that I think they know what they are doing,” Aris says, slashing at three cranks. “God, they are more annoying now, than they ever were.”

I battle around six cranks before I am able to help Aris with his few. Teresa takes down four cranks, and a fifth one charges at her from behind. She swings her arm back, stabbing it in the neck. Blood spurts all over her shirt, my side, and the ground. It falls onto the floor, and she lets out a victorious laugh. Aris and I kill his cranks, and we venture into the camp. I have no idea what is in store, but I am glad that Aris and Teresa are by my side for the ride.


	18. Finding Sonya: Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt, Aris, and Teresa are fighting cranks inside Aris' old camp.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Life's still shit. Might be leaving my school because I can't take it anymore. Here's another chapter. Leave a kudos and comment because I like them.

Aris’ old camp is one and a half times bigger than the Glade. It’s about two times bigger than the Gladerhood. There are around twelves man-made structures. Most look like housing units, but there are also a few other things. One building has an outside part. In it, targets are strung loosely on ropes. It’s probably an archery range.

All the buildings are worn down and tattered looking. Aris looks at the buildings, wearing a face of utter despair. I bet this place was once amazing looking. Too bad cranks have to ruin everything. Cranks? Cranks are crawling all over the place. I see many of them. There has to be around twenty in the front part of the camp.

“This used to be my home!” Aris screams, stabbing a crank. “You cranks took everything from me!”

Aris basically flips out and starts killing cranks left and right. I have a vendetta against these creatures as well. My sister, the Glade, and all the people these things have killed. They have no reason to live, so why let them. All they do is bring pain, misery, and suffering to anyone and everyone. It would be a favor to the world if they all would just die already.

“They’re coming in at all sides.” Teresa says, to both Aris and I. “Get ready!”

As soon as she says that, a crank runs into my side, and knocks me to the ground. I stab it in the forehead, and three more cranks come charging at me. I trip one, stab another, and punch one all at the same time. One is dead, so I kill the crank dazed from my punch. I look down, and the crank I tripped tries swiping at my leg with its claws. I stab it in the head, and it goes limp. Five more come at me, and I don’t know if I can take them on. Next thing I know, more and more join the pile, and we are surrounded by them.

“Fuck this,” Teresa says and pulls out a gun. “Stole this from Minho. I think this is from your old stuff.”

She points it and starts shooting at the mob. Cranks fall to the ground dead. Teresa is a really good shot. She only misses one, and it hits somewhere in the forest. A clicking sound comes from the gun, and Teresa is quick to reload it. Aris and I start stabbing at any cranks that Teresa does not shoot. One almost bites me from behind, but Teresa shoots it right between the eyes. I suddenly really wish I bought a gun. The sound attracts many more cranks, and we have to get out of here somehow.

“Should we start attacking in one direction?” Aris asks. “I don’t think this is a fight we can win.”

“Yes,” Teresa says. “I only have like three rounds after this. Make it quick.”

Aris starts attacking cranks near the gate. Teresa starts shooting, covering Aris and I. The pathway is made with speed, and Teresa runs toward the gate. Now all three of us are at the gate, killing and shooting cranks. Aris reaches the gate first and opens it for us to go through. We pile out of the camp with no luck finding my sister. It’s time to search the woods.

“If we get out of this alive,” Teresa says, slipping through the gate. “I sure as hell am going to start living life to the fullest. No more wasting time for me. Nope. We are lucky to be alive.”

“We aren’t out of the woods yet,” I say, pointing to at least fifteen cranks a few yards away from us.

Teresa shoots down around six of them by the time Aris and I reach them. Knives in hand, we take cranks down one by one. Aris almost gets bitten, but I bury my knife into its skull before it can reach. Aris throws me a glance, before attacking cranks again. He goes to stab one, but the crank catches the knife in its hand. Aris is so stunned, the crank manages to disarm him. The crank looks at the knife, and four cranks go over to see the object. The crank stabs one of his fellow cranks and then jumps in a gleeful manner.   
“Son of a bitch!” Aris screams. “It- it disarmed me!”

Teresa winks and takes aim. A loud bang sends the armed crank to the ground. The rest of the cranks pile on top of the crank in hopes of getting the sharp knife. I mentally note that cranks are definitely changing, but I’ll worry about it later. The top priority is killing the rest of these cranks and getting out of here.

Teresa shoots down a few more cranks, and I stab the remaining ones diving for the knife. Aris and I are covered in blood splatters, and I’m exhausted. I look around, trying to find a safe place to hide while keeping a close distance to Aris’ camp. We still have unfinished business here. I spot two climbable trees on the western side of the camp. They are right on the forest line, so I can keep an eye on the Glade.

“See those trees?” I yell to Aris and Teresa, who both spot the trees I am talking about. “We need to climb them, and regroup.”

I lead the way, with Aris behind me, and Teresa covering the back. Gunshots ring out, and I kill at least four cranks on the way there. I start losing count after I get rushed by three at once. Aris starts grabbing at their necks to snap them, seeing as he lost his weapon. I violently stab at them. Together, we kill them and make it to the tree.

Aris makes quick work up the tree on the left, making quick work getting to a high branch. Teresa and I both climb up the left tree, and we settle on branches just below Aris. Each of them has room for us to lay on, but we need something to strap ourselves in. I look up, and Aris is taking off his shirt.

“What in the bloody hell are you doing?” I shout, and I watch as he uses the sleeves to wrap himself around the branch. “That’s an amazing idea! You’re bloody brilliant!”

Teresa and I do the same thing. Teresa hesitates at first but realizes that Aris and I aren’t completely ‘straight’, so she eventually does. No, she isn’t naked. She has a braw. I catch Aris’ lingering gaze, not on Teresa, but on me. His face turns pink, and he turns away. I feel a bit of red rushing to my cheeks, but I cannot think about it now. We have more important issues at hand.

“What are we going to do?” Teresa says, talking to me. “I can keep shooting, but I’m going to run out of bullets eventually. “I have a knife too, and that reminds me. I have a knife for you Aris. I packed more than one. I have a spare for you too, Newt. I have about four knives in this backpack.”

“Give me my spare,” I reply, intending to use both. “Two knives are better than one.”

Teresa hands me mine, and I stick it in my backpack with my other one. Aris gets his knife too and puts it in his backpack. I suddenly have hope that we are going to be walking out of this alive. After all, we are all armed again. Hopefully, we don’t have to deal with cranks disarming us again. I’ll have to be extra cautious about it.

“We should just jump down, and start attacking,” Aris says, smiling at his blade. “I like this knife. It’s longer than my old one, and Newt has been using a kitchen knife.”

“Don’t pick this fight,” I reply, looking at my knife. “I’ve had this knife since the day I lost my sister. I’ve gotten out of so many sticky situations with this thing, and I’d be dead without it.”

Aris looks down at the ground and doesn’t reply. I feel bad for making him feel bad. Aris makes eye-contact, and I give him a wide grin. He smiles back at me, and everything is silently forgiven. I let myself take in a little bit of Aris’ body. He has a slight abs forming, but aren’t like defined. It’s natural like he doesn’t work out trying to get them. It’s probably just because of everything he’s done since the apocalypse began. I shake myself back to reality, and I try not to stare too long.

“I agree with Aris,” I say, after some time. “We should fight them. Let’s kill as many of these bastards as we can. The more we kill, the less in the world to worry about.”

Aris smiles at me, and Teresa nods fiercely. We untie ourselves, and slowly descend the tree. Teresa puts her shirt on in process. I struggle to put it on, and I end up tying it around my waist. I don’t notice, but Aris’ face turns unmistakably red. I’m too busy trying not to fall out of the tree, to the cranks below. I count around six. I stop at a branch just above them, I open my backpack, and I take out both of my knives. Two knives are better than one.

Teresa is the first one to drop to the ground. She has a knife in one hand, and a knife in the other. Gunshots fill the air, accompanied by screams of dying cranks. I drop to the ground second, and I start slashing two cranks at once. Aris drops to the ground last and starts cutting cranks as best as he can.

We take out as much as we can, but the cranks just keep coming. Eventually, we start moving toward the forest, trying to evade the cranks. Teresa shoots at them as we move. Aris and I stab cranks left and right. We fight through the mob, and we make our way into the forest. They will probably follow us, but we can use the forest to our advantage.

Teresa, Aris, and I hide behind trees, close to each other. Cranks run past us, and we kill them as they come. Since the cranks don’t know we’re there, it’s much easier to kill them. The element of surprise plays well in our favor. Teresa pops out of her tree and starts shooting at the cranks, blowing our cover. She takes out a ton of cranks though.

We use this to our advantage because all the cranks are coming after her. Aris and I start stabbing at all of the cranks, not caring, at this point, if we are seen or not. They don’t notice us, as they are too busy with Teresa shooting at them. We’re on a role, stabbing tons and tons of cranks as they come. I mentally curse myself when a crank grabs one of my knives.

I swipe at the crank, but I miss. The crank swipes at me, but I manage to dodge it too. I use my small knife to try and kill the crank that is using the knife Teresa gave me. It charges at me, swinging the knife back and forth, and I feel something cut my leg. I dive my knife into the crank’s heart, and it falls to the ground. I pick up my knife, and I inspect my wound. It isn’t deep enough to endanger me. It’s barely deep enough to bleed.

Teresa runs over to me and inspects my wound. She determines it to be ok and runs away quickly to divert the cranks. I take my shirt off of my waist, and I tie it around my leg. I look over to Aris, who looks at me with a concerned look. A crank walks right in my line of vision and lunges itself at Aris, who takes it down with ease. He smirks at me, and I return it.

“How many are left?” I ask Teresa, who takes a minute to reload the gun. “A lot? A little?”

“Let’s just say I’m not shocked Aris’ camp was destroyed,” Teresa says, firing the gun. “These little bitches won’t give it a rest.”

Gunshots ring through the air, and I turn over to Teresa. She’s still loading her gun. Panic settles in me, and I pale at the thought that a crank might be able to use a gun. Teresa looks up, looks back at her gun, and then her head snaps forward. Her eyes wide in shock. I peer around the tree that I’m hiding behind. I gasp at what I see. Aris drops to the floor, his hand covering his mouth. Cranks lay in a neat path. All of them are dead. One twitches, and a lone gunshot rings through the air. It goes limp as well.

Aris, Teresa, and I watch as figures appear out of nowhere. They are all painted so much like the tree, that they perfectly blend in. One girl comes out of the ground and shakes off bits of dirt on her. All of us stand, utterly speechless until one of the girls walk up to us. She raises to guns in the air, shows them to us, and then sets them on the ground. I believe this is a sign that she is friendly, and someone we shouldn’t be afraid of. Teresa does the same thing with her gun. Aris and I put our knives in our backpacks.

The girl that came out of the ground walks over to us. She shakes the dirt out of her blonde hair and walks a little closer to me. She looks at Aris in complete disbelief. I look over to Aris, and his face is so happy, that I’m sure I’ve never seen anyone look so happy in my entire life. He runs over to her, and they embrace each other. Then the rest of the camo people run over and join in on the hug. The girl notices me, and she throws herself off of Aris. She stumbles over her own foot running so fast to me. She stops directly in front of me, and I can see her brown eyes frantically identifying me. Tears stream down her face, and she throws herself into my arms. Then I get this warm, familiar feeling. I know who this girl is, and my face fills with delight and closure. I tremble in her grasp. This girl is Sonya, my sister.


	19. Finding Sonya Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Newt has found Sonya, but what happened to her throughout the years they were apart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been on antidepressants for a month now, and it's been a huge emotional rollercoaster, so that's why I haven't been updating. Life's been real fucked up, but I finally am starting to feel better. I've gotten into screenwriting, so watch out Hollywood. I'm too lazy to actually write a whole movie lol. Enjoy this chapter. Leave a kudos and a comment because ya'll are precious.

For the first time in four years, I finally see my sister again. I finally get to hold her in my arms and hug her again. Sonya and I stand there in each other’s embrace for what seems like an eternity. I cannot believe how much is different about her. Sonya’s hair is slightly darker than I remember, her eyes have this hint of grey to them that wasn’t there before, and she is much much stronger than before.

I wonder who these people are that Sonya is with. Does she live somewhere safe? If she does, am I going to stay with her? There are so many questions on my mind, that I cannot help, but ramble on about so many things. I doubt she can keep up with me, as I am talking really fast. For the moment, Sonya and I are the only two people in the world. Brother and sister reunited, once again, at the end of the world.

“Where have you been?” Sonya asks, curiosity written on her face. “I hopped off of the train as soon as the conductor let me go. After that, I went back to the house, and you weren’t there.”

“I’ve been following the train tracks,” I reply. “I assumed if I just looked where you might have stopped, I’d be able to find you. Gosh, I bet you’ve been through hell. I can’t even tell you the horrors I’ve seen.”

“I can’t believe it,” Sonya says, frowning. “If I would have just parked my ass on that bloody train, you would have found me years ago. Damn it, Newt. It’s all my fault that we’ve been separated for so long.”

I can say the same thing to her. For years, I’ve blamed myself for not being able to find my sister. Day after day I looked, and I searched for her. I gave up when I thought she was dead. I should have kept looking for her. I should have kept looking. Knowing that Sonya feels just as responsible as I do breaks my heart.

“Who are these people?” I ask, gesturing to the well-camouflaged people, now out of their hiding spots. “How do they blend in so well?”

“After our camp got attacked, we had to blend in to survive,” Sonya says, tearing up at the memories. “We train for stuff like this. We know how to disappear, and we know how to mask our scent.”

As if to demonstrate, she gestures to a girl with black hair. The girl leans up against one of the trees close-by, and she disappears. Teresa gasps when the black-haired girl moves and becomes visible. She’d been painted to blend in perfectly with that specific spot. I stand in amazement, and Sonya gives me a pleased look.

“Well done Harriet,” Sonya says, to the black-haired girl. “This is what we do. This is how we survive. Why try to fight cranks when we can simply evade them, and wait them out. They have to starve eventually, right. They see us as food, so we don’t let them see us at all.”

Teresa walks over to some of the other people, who seem to be all girls. The only boy that seems to be part of their group is Aris. Speaking of Aris, he’s also engaged in a conversation with two other girls. I’ve never seen so many girls in one place, and I think back to the Gladerhood, which mostly consisted of boys. There are Teresa and Brenda, but then there are around twenty other boys.

“Sonya,” I say, getting her attention fixated on me. “This is really fascinating. Do you have a new base since you’ve lost this one, or are you solely relying on your camo?”

“We’ve been hiding in the trees,” Sonya says, taking in the view of the forest. “I’ve been sleeping in trees even when we found this place. Not a day goes by where I don’t rest in one of nature’s sleeping bags.”

“So have I, actually,” I reply, excited that we have that in common, for some odd reason. “I just don’t feel good being cooped up in some house or bunker. It’s like sleeping on hope. Sleeping on something that lets you know the Earth is still kicking.”

Sonya giggles and I have never felt more content in my life. It feels so good to have my sister back, that I could just scream in joy. For some reason, I pull her into a hug, just to acknowledge the fact that she  _ is _ here. The little girl I lost, years ago, is now standing next to me. She’s transformed into a young woman, and I feel just so blessed to see her now.

“I’m so glad to have you back,” Sonya says, squeezing me tighter. “I’ve felt so alone these past years, and now I finally feel like I’m complete again. You’ve filled this gap in my heart, left in me so long ago.”

I feel a tear run down my cheek when Sonya says that. I feel saddened that she’s changed so much over the course of four years. The little, fragile, delicate sister I once knew somehow morphed into this brave, artistic, crank-killing girl. I need to get to know her again. Is her favorite color the same? What about her favorite move? Favorite activity? All these changes in her that I see makes me wish I would have been there to see her grow into the person she is now.

“I can smell you thinking,” Sonya says, sarcastically. “Don’t hurt yourself, please. Talk to me. I am your sister, after all.”

“I just cannot believe how much you’ve changed,” I whisper, with a kiss on her head. “You’ve grown into such a young lady, and I fear I don’t know you anymore. I don’t want to sound like a grandma that hasn’t seen you in a week, but I’m serious. You’ve grown so much, and your looks have changed so very much.”

“Thank you, ya bloody dork,” Sonya says, thickening her accent. “At least I still got an accent, ya? That’s the one thing these cranks have not taken from me. Sometimes, I say those same things to myself whenever I look at my own reflection. I always think about the things that lead me up to now, and the person that I’ve become.”

My sister is such a deep, and insightful person. I cannot help but smile, and we do break our hug eventually. I look at her painted friends, and I smile. They smile back at me, and some even wave. I can’t imagine what the Gladers would think, looking at these people. My thoughts go to Thomas, now. I want to shake the thoughts away, but I can’t seem to push them at the back of my mind. His crying, pleading face on the day that I left. That image burns inside of my head and makes me wonder where I would be now if I had stayed.

“You’re thinking again,” Sonya says, smiling at me. “I have a question of my own. Are Aris and Teresa it, or do you know of any other survivors? Would be nice to have some males around, if you know what I mean.”

My jaw drops, and not because of the very mature comment at the end. Though, holy crap, my sister is already thinking of having sex with boys. A father switch flicks inside me, and I yearn to kill anyone who touches my sister. I glare at Aris, who catches my gaze. He only returns a, way too cheeky, smile at me.

“I know a few more survivors,” I say. “Except I left them to come find you. Unfortunately, I don’t remember the way back, so we are just going to have to figure things out from here.”

“Yes we do, what are you talking about?” Aris asks, in a way too ignorant manner. “Remember? The river? Fifteen to twenty miles south? How can you not remember?”

“Aris, stuff it!” I snap at him, and he whimpers. “Anyways, nope. I do not remember the way back, so we will just have to forget they ever existed, and move on with our lives.”

“Aww,” Sonya says, fake pouting. “Are you avoiding someone?”

That question burns at the back of my throat, and tears suddenly threaten to spill. I choke, and I take a step back. Do I answer her question? Can I even answer it for myself? Sonya gives me a saddened look, and I regret saying that I do know more survivors. If she wants to go back to the Glade, that means I have to confront Thomas again. How can I ever do that again? I told him I’d visit, but I think even he knew that I was lying.

“Yes,” I say, suddenly not feeling cheerful. “I don’t want to talk about him, so let’s just drop the subject.”

“It’s a boy!” Sonya exclaims, suddenly very ecstatic. “Oh, my gosh, Newt! You’re in love, and you didn’t tell me as soon as we started talking? How dare you! I want to meet him, and make sure that he is good enough to be your husband.”

I start laughing, but I am crying on the inside. She cannot meet Thomas because I just can’t have these two worlds collide. If they become friends, then I’d be forced to spend time with Thomas. I don’t even want to go back to the Gladerhood, but I am losing this battle, and I am losing it very quickly.

“He’s not my husband,” I say, saddened by the truthfulness of it. “He’s a straight mate.”

“Aww.” She says, putting her arm around me. “Did my poor brother get his heart broken? That’s why you don’t want to go back to them! This boy broke your heart, and he’s back there. I swear to God, I am going to kill him. Take me to them, and point him out. I’ll put a bullet right between his eyes. Nobody hurts the people I love.”

I pale a little at Sonya’s intensity, but I do like her fire. The image of her putting a gun to Thomas’ head doesn’t seem very pleasant either. If she does it when Thomas and Brenda are going at it, then maybe she can get two birds with one bullet. I smile at my dark sense of humor, and then Sonya’s laughing distracts me. My sister is so awesome, and I can’t express how glad I am to finally have her back in my life.

“As lovely as that statement is,” I start, sarcastically. “I’m not going back. You heard Aris, you know where to go. If you want to chase after him, then be my guest.”

“Ok,” Sonya says. “Tell me his name, and I will bring you his head.”

“Stop it,” I say, lightly punching her on the shoulder. “I’m not joking.”

Sonya’s face contorts into a half laugh and half pout. Teresa comes over and stands close to us. I can tell Teresa is a little awkward being around all of these strangers. I guess it isn’t nice of me, ignoring Teresa. If she hadn’t come, Aris and I would have definitely died. I drag Teresa over to Sonya, and I introduce them.

“Sup,” Teresa says, in an awkward tone. “I’m Teresa. I’m the badass, who Newt used to hate, and now we are best friends. We’ve saved each others’ asses many times. “

“I’m Sonya,” Sonya replies, shaking Teresa’s hand. “I’m Newt’s badass sister. I’m the leader of this group, and we blend in with the shadows.”

Teresa and Sonya engage in a really deep conversation, and it gives me a whole new respect for my sister. She’s not only a badass but also accepting of my friend. I can’t ask for anything better, except for her to change her mind about wanting us to return to the Gladerhood. Sonya and Teresa continue their conversation, and I head out to search for Aris. I find him leaning against the village gate, alone.

“Hey,” Aris says, smiling at me. “You’ve found your sister.”

“Yeah,” I say, smiling back at the boy. “I see you’ve found your people too.”

“I like you, Newt,” Aris says, red in his face. “I know that’s off topic, but I just can’t hide it anymore. I like you, and I know that you love Thomas. I just wish I could help you move on, ya know. If we aren’t going back, then can we at least have a future together?”

“I like you too Aris,” I say, feeling weird feelings in my stomach. “I just don’t think now is a good time for me to be in a relationship. I feel like I’m just starting to get over Thomas, and I need to keep my head level for a few days or so. I really like you Aris, but I love Thomas. Just give me some time to move on, yeah?

“Completely understandable,” Aris says. “It’s getting late, so I’m going to go climb a tree.”

Aris walks by but stops right in front of me. I meet his gaze, and then he looks down onto the ground. He gets closer to me and places a soft kiss on my lips. He then disappears and leaves me with a tingling sensation. I’m so completely, and utterly shucked.


	20. How They Survived

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sonya recaps on how she and the other survivors of Aris' old camp survived, and Newt learns how to do what they do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it took me so long to update again. I'm sure you guys are used to it by now, so it's good. Hope you guys enjoy reading this chapter. I have no angsty cringy stories about my depression for you guys this time. Life's starting to look up-ish so... ENJOY!

The next day I wake up with a weight next to me. I smile, and I move closer to Aris. Except, this person isn’t Aris. My eyes shoot open, and I kick back. I’m still in the tree I fell asleep in. Sonya yelps, and then looks at me in shock. I lay, frozen in shock. That’s when I remember. I have my sister back. I have my sister back! I start laughing, and then I pull Sonya into a giant hug, leaving her really confused. 

“Good morning to you too,” Sonya replies, rubbing the spot on her thigh where I kicked her in shock. “Jesus, you are like a bloody horse.”

I start laughing. She puts two fingers in her mouth, and whistles three times. I notice movement in my peripheral vision. I look, and I see nothing, and then something. It’s quite hard to explain actually. One moment, a part of the tree is normal. The next thing I know, a person stirs. I can make out her head. She is completely painted like bark. I gasp as more and more people start appearing out of thin air. That’s when I remember fully what happened yesterday. That’s right! These people survive by doing things like this.

“I will never quite grasp your crew here,” I say, and Sonya giggles the most childlike giggle. “Soon, you will.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, wondering what she means by that statement.

“I’m going to teach you how to paint,” Sonya replies, grabbing a backpack from a nearby branch. “In this bag, you will have all the things you need to camo yourself like us. My advice to you is that detail is key. You don’t need to look exactly like your surroundings, but you need to look like a close copy.”

She opens the bag, and I can hardly believe she is going to teach me about camouflage. This girl, the same girl who I had to defend when cranks invaded our home. This same girl, whose screams I can still hear at night from the train incident. She is going to teach me how to survive better from cranks.

“First things first,” Sonya says, pulling out a paintbrush from the backpack. “You don’t start painting right away. You want to see the exact spot you want to paint yourself as. Then, you paint yourself as if you are looking at yourself from all angles.”

Sonya pulls out a mirror and hands it to me. I notice that there is a small piece of glass missing. I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but Sonya bites her lips when she sees me noticing it. I decide to let it go, and I start looking at myself from all angles. Sonya takes out the paint, and I wonder if I am going to be able to do it or not.

“Ok,” I say, nervous. “Let’s do this!”

I dab my paintbrush in the brown, and I start painting my hand. I try to cover my whole hand in brown for a base. Then, I decide to add a little black into the mix. The black color gives my hand a sense of depth that I never knew I could do before. I add a little bit of green to it, for detail, and it makes the brown pop. Sonya watches my brush strokes carefully, and I am really afraid of slipping up.

“You’re doing good so far,” Sonya says, smirking at me. “Shockingly well, actually. Who knew that you were such an artist?”

I nod at her, trying not to lose my focus. It gets easier and easier with each brush stroke that I do. Eventually, I have two fingers done. I know it doesn’t seem like a lot, but I hold my two fingers up to the tree. They disappear almost completely. I am so shocked by this, I almost stumble out of the tree. I move my finger, just to make sure that I do, in fact, still have my fingers. Sonya looks at me with a gleeful expression.

“That was amazing!” Sonya screams, wild with delight. “Most people usually finish a bit of their arm or half of one finger on their first day. You, my friend, are a natural!”

I look at my two fingers, and I swell with a little bit of pride. This is what I’ve been missing out on the last four years. This could have been every single day with Sonya. I could have never been a Glader, and I could have been with her. I would have never met Thomas, so I wouldn’t have an empty feeling in my heart every single second of every day. Sonya looks into my eyes, and notice that something is wrong.

“I know you’re thinking of the past,” Sonya says, and I stare at her in amazement. “I can tell because of yesterday. You had that same look thinking of the Glade… and of this crush that you won’t tell me about.”

“Tommy is nothing,” I say, and I facepalm so hard I almost fly out of the tree. “I mean- this boy is part of the past now. I’m trying to look toward the future instead.”

Sonya lets out a victorious cry, and I suddenly really want to throw myself out of this tree. She starts muttering things about viciously murdering someone, and I really regret waking up this morning. She lets out a maniacal laugh, and I just let out a dramatically deep sigh. I try to focus on something else- literally anything else- but I just can’t seem to get out of this conversation. I start climbing down the tree, ignoring Sonya’s protests.

“I don’t feel like getting up today,” Sonya complains. “Can’t I take a ‘found my brother that I’ve been separated from for four years day’?”

“If I don’t do something productive, I swear I will die,” I complain, and I can almost hear Sonya’s eyes roll behind me. “Don’t get your eyes stuck back their, Sonya. Someone might mistake you for a crank, or some other kind of weird horror creature.”

I hear her let out a huff, before starting to make her way down the tree as well. I step on a branch that suddenly snaps, sending me plummeting to the ground below. I slam against the ground, and the air leaves my body. I gasp for air, and it eventually returns to me. A hand is extended to me, and I see Teresa standing over me.

“If you get hurt again,” Teresa hisses. “I’m not going to carry you like Thomas did- oh my gosh. Sorry, Newt. I won’t mention his name again. Anyways, you get what I mean. How is sister life going for you?”

“Pretty excellent,” I say, looking a few yards past Teresa, at my sister, who is talking to one of her friends. “She’s quite brilliant, actually. She taught me how to camouflage my two fingers. I’m pretty skilled at playing finger ninja now.”

Teresa starts laughing, and I decide that it’s really good to hear a Glader laugh. I’m just so glad that Teresa is here, even though she doesn’t feel like she fits in. Teresa has been in a community of boys for so long. I can imagine her burping and farting in front of the other girls is certainly a crowd pleaser.

“You’re going to fit in here, eventually,” I say, and Teresa’s eyes light up. “I know it’s going to take some time, but you are going to make friends with these people. This is our home now. It might not be much, but I at least have to make the best of it.”

“I have friends,” Teresa says, a little defensively. “Harriet and Rachel are my friends. Harriet is this one black haired girl that I think you’ve seen. Rachel is this dark down haired girl that kind of looks like me. Just a little. Ok, I think she does, and that’s all that matters.”

“That’s awesome!” I shout, and I envelop her in a hug. “Glad to see you’re fitting in. I’ve felt so guilty for dragging you away from the other Gladers.”

Teresa and I break away, and we start talking about some random things. Occasionally, some interesting topic would come up, but it quickly dies every time. At some point, I start looking to see if I can spot Aris. I do, but he is chatting away with three girls at the same time. I begin to think how big of a player this kid could be if he were to swing for the other team. This resurfaces more memories of yesterday, and I instantly feel guilty for looking at him. I know Aris likes me, and my feelings just won't let me like him back at this moment. Hopefully, my feelings come to their senses before Aris lands someone, and I lose him too.

“Do you ever miss the Gladerhood?” Teresa asks, and I suddenly feel really sad at the mention of our old home. “I mean- I assume you do. I just mean, would you ever consider going back?”

“Yes,” I reply, being completely honest. “If I have literally no other option, then I would go back to the Gladerhood.”

Teresa seems to contemplate this and just walks away. I feel guilty all over again for leaving, and I feel something else brewing in my stomach. It’s an unsettling feeling, and I can only describe it as regret. I glance around, and my eyes land on Sonya, once again. I feel the regret draining from me, and just as someone else talks to me.

“Hey,” Aris says, appearing out of nowhere. “I hope I didn’t make things awkward between us. I only didn’t sleep with you yesterday to give you some space with Sonya. If you want me back at any time, I’m good to go, ya know. How’s your day going?”

“Good,” I reply, trying to keep the conversation at a very basic level. “How about you? Are you adjusting to your old life well?”

Aris nods, and I feel slightly better. There’s still this nagging thought at the back of my mind. It won’t let me live down running away from my problems, more specifically, running away from Thomas. Perhaps that’s the real reason I left the Gladerhood in the first place. I knew my chances of finding Sonya was slim, but I risked it anyway. I did it because I love my sister, but I can’t help but believe that Thomas played a role in it in some way. Thinking of Thomas gives me this sinking feeling in my chest, and Aris gives me a questionable look.

“Are you ok?” Aris asks, concern etched on his face.

Am I ok? That question seems to get me every single time because I don’t know if I am ok anymore. I just run away from all of my problems, but do I get away from them in the first place. My mind has a way of bringing them back to me. This is the reason I am not ok, but it’s also the exact reason I have to fake my smile and continue on living.

“Of course I’m alright.” I lie, trying to hide my true emotions. “I’ve finally found my sister. What is there to be sad about exactly?

Aris doesn’t respond, and, for some reason, it irritates me. He asks me if I’m ok, and then doesn’t respond after I answer him. I feel really bitter for some odd reason, and I have absolutely no idea why. I’m just in a bad mood, but I don’t want to be in a bad mood. At the same time, I just have so many things to be mad about. On the other hand, I have one really big reason that I should feel absolute happiness. That reason would be Sonya.

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” Aris starts, and I already know I’ll want to punch him in the nose. “But I think you are lying. Tell me the truth, Newt. Is there something bothering you? I get what you are going through is tough, but you need to look on the bright side. Start looking forward to your new life here, with my people. We are your Gladers, now.”

Realization hits me like a ton of bricks just drop on me. I know exactly why I am angry, and it makes me even angrier that I can do nothing about it. I miss the Gladers. I thought I would be ok with never seeing them again, but things just aren’t the same without them. I miss the Gladerhood. Most of all, I miss Thomas.


	21. What Are YOU Doing Here?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So a little someone arrives to pay Newt a visit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't believe I'm updating this haha. I'm too lazy to give a brief summary of what went wrong in my life to make me forget about updating. Just be glad I am updating, and enjoy the chapter.

It’s been four days since I left the Gladerhood. It isn’t getting any easier dealing with it. Sonya and the rest of us have secured the village. It has been deemed crank-free, and that’s where we are currently staying. I sleep in a tent all by myself, Sonya sleeps in a tent next to mine, Teresa sleeps in a tent directly across from me, and Aris sleeps with a few girls that I don’t know.

Teresa is having the time of her life. All I hear is giggling and screaming from her tent. It really bothers me because I wish that she felt as miserable as I do. I want to go back to the Gladerhood, but I can’t go back if nobody wants to. I also don’t want to leave my sister, and I can’t make her come. I haven’t asked or even told anyone that I miss the Gladers.

I don’t talk to Aris much anymore. We’ve been a little distant after the kiss, and the guilt is eating me up inside. I like him, but I also love Thomas. It’s so weird that I can’t talk to him anymore. He’s been there for me for what seems like forever, and my mind doesn’t want to accept the loss. I catch glimpses of him, here and there. He seems to be perfectly fine, hanging out with his old friends. He’s happy here too, and it makes me feel really conflicted. I could, perhaps, run away again. Where would that leave my sister, though?

I pace around my tent, which doesn’t have that much room. I have to be careful to not trip on things. I have two small pots near an open flap on my tent. Sunlight seeps through the hole and shines brilliantly on them. In the pot on the left, I am growing a lemon tree. In the pot on the right, I am growing radishes. Sonya gave me the materials for them. Apparently, they have things to grow, but nobody knows much about gardening.

I lift a small watering can also provided by Sonya, and I pour water gently on each. A hole at the bottom allows excess water to drain out. I learned gardening from my mother. Our yard was the perfect size for growing all sorts of vegetables. Someone enters my tent, and I turn around to face the person. At the sight, my watering can drops to the ground, and my jaw drops to the floor. Standing in front of me is Thomas.

“T-Thomas?” I stutter, not really sure how he got here. “How? W-why are you- what?”

“Sonya let me in,” Thomas says, trying to avoid eye contact. “I came here to bring you back, Newt. I-I shouldn’t have hurt you the way that I did. I just panicked when you told me that you liked me, and it got me questioning myself. I didn’t know what to do, and Brenda threw herself on me. We didn’t do anything, Newt. I stopped her when I realized that I wasn’t ready for it. I-I don’t have feelings for her like that. I don’t know what I feel anymore, and I just don’t know what to do. I’m just so confused, and I can’t let you leave because of it.”

My brain honestly cannot comprehend half of what he is saying. I’m just in total and complete shock that Thomas is here. Thomas is  _ here. _ Thomas is telling me that he wants me back in the Gladerhood, and I just can’t seem to stand straight. My head is spinning rapidly, and tears are just trying to force themselves out. I’m facing too many emotions at once to deal with all at the same time.

“Gosh,” I say, shock just radiating from my body. “I-I can’t believe you’re here. How did you even get here? I-I’m just trying to understand things first. Go a little slower for me.”

Thomas stands in my tent, staring at me with wide eyes. At one moment, I actually have to pinch myself to make sure that I am not asleep. Thomas is actually standing in front of me,  _ here. _ As if all of my emotions just come crashing down on me, I run over to Thomas, and I embrace him. A tight grip hugs my body, and I can feel Thomas trembling on me. I’m trembling too, and the tears can no longer pretend that they aren’t there. I feel the hot tears trickle down my face, and Thomas only holds me tighter.

“I’ve been regretting leaving for days now,” I admit, still holding Thomas. “I really miss the Gladerhood, but Teresa and Aris don’t seem to mind being here. Now that you’re actually here, I just can’t keep pretending everything is fine when it isn’t. I missed you so much.”

Thomas pulls back from the hug, and I fear that I am scaring him away. Sadness fills me at each inch that he separates from me, and I’m afraid that he’s going to walk away from me. I’m afraid that he’ll just run back to the Gladerhood and forget that this whole thing ever happened. All at once, Thomas stops and presses our faces together. Tears roll down my cheek, and he cups the side of my face to deepen the kiss.

“This is what I mean,” Thomas says, breaking from the kiss. “I feel something deep for you, and I can’t place my finger on it. It’s something much much more meaningful than whatever was between Brenda and me.”

“I’m sorry, Tommy,” I say, and Thomas’ jaw drops. “I should have been more understanding. I shouldn’t have left the Gladerhood because I didn’t want to see you with a girl. I shouldn’t have put you through that, and I’m so, deeply sorry. I should have helped you figure these feelings out, but you didn’t talk to me.”

“Every time I did, you always ran away,” Thomas says, fumbling with his hands awkwardly. “It’s completely my fault though. I should have made you understand. I should have said something when I didn’t. I don’t know if I like you or not, I’ll be honest. I want to find out though. I never thought I could like a boy before, but you’re different. You’re so much more to me than I thought. I need you in my life, Newt. I just want to figure these feelings out.”

Thomas sits on my bed-of-sorts, and I sit down next to him. I try to make eye contact with him, but he looks away, perhaps disappointed in himself. I now see how bad this poor boy is hurting, and I can’t help but feel as if it is all my fault. Everything is just so screwed up now, and I can no longer sweep the mess under a rug. I have to face these problems.

“I wish I could take back the pain I’ve caused you,” I say, feeling deep regret. “I wish I could go back in time, and do everything differently, but I can’t. I can’t just pretend my problems don’t exist either. I shouldn’t run from my problems, and I shouldn’t run from you. You’re my everything, Tommy, and I can’t help it if you don’t feel the same. It doesn’t mean that I won’t stop being for you, now.”

Thomas’ bottom lip is trembling, and guilt runs through my veins. I want to continue talking, but Thomas pulls me in for another hug. My breathing becomes shaky, and my vision blurs. I let the tears run down my cheeks. I’m not fighting them anymore. I take in the scent of Thomas, and I just enjoy what he’s giving me. We let go of each other, and, for the first time, I feel that I’m not the only one longing to touch again.

“Let’s not play the fault game,” Thomas says, with a laugh. “I believe it’s my fault, and you believe it’s yours. Let’s just call it a tie, and move on from this. Let’s focus on what we’re going to do. Are you going to come home?”

The way Thomas says home instead of Gladerhood almost fills me with more tears if that is even possible. My eyes sting from crying, and my mind just gave up on trying to process all of this. It’s happening, and I’m just going to go with it. Thomas is here. Thomas wants me to go back with him. Thomas wants me in his life and wants to figure out his feelings for me.

“How’d you get here?” I ask, realizing that this angel didn’t just teleport here.

“I followed you,” Thomas says, smiling downward. “I kept a far enough distance for you not to notice. I saw you, Teresa, and Aris take down those cranks. I killed a few of those myself. I just wanted to make sure you were going to be ok, and that you would be alright without me. It also gave me comfort knowing that I could come see you whenever I wanted. I went back to the Gladerhood, and I realized that I shouldn’t have let you go so easily. Then I decided that I’m going to fight to get you back. That and Minho got pissed at me that I let one of the only girls in the Gladerhood just walk away. I came here once before today. I got nervous, and I went back. Minho’s here too because I told him to make sure I didn’t turn back.”

Knowing all of this, I take his hand in mine. It is just a small gesture to show my appreciation for everything that Thomas had to endure. He finally makes eye contact with me, and I give him the most genuine smile I can muster. His eyes dart slightly downward, and then he reconnects our lips. He moves slowly, and passionately. He wraps his arms around my neck. He leans back on my bed and pulls me on top of him.

I smile, and we deepen the kiss. Thomas moves one of his hands down to my hips. He pushes me up, making me grind against him. A soft moan emits from his mouth, and it’s the best thing I’ve ever heard in my life. I get off of him though, and his eyes fly open. He leans up and stares at me. His hair is a little messed up, and it complements his confused expression.

“W-why’d you stop?” Thomas asks, a little saddened. “Did I do something wrong?”

“No,” I say, laughing. “I just don’t want to rush things while you’re figuring out everything.”

“Oh,” Thomas says, with an apologetic grin. “Sorry.”

The sound of someone’s voice clearing sends Thomas flying off of me. I frown a little bit, but I let it go for now. Thomas notices my gaze and sits back right next to me. I look in the direction of the voice, and Minho is staring at the two of us with a playful smirk. I don’t have to be clairvoyant to sense the sarcastic remark that’s going to pop out of his mouth.

“Finally!” Minho screams, pumping the air with his fist. “You two should have gotten it on days ago. Did you really think we were going to let you leave that easily, Newt? Thomas may be a pushover and a sad sack, (“Hey!”) but I don’t let things or people go that easily. You were taking one of our only girls with you, too.”

“Well hello to you too, Minho.” I retort, and Minho brings me into an embrace.

Thomas squeezes himself past Minho and gets in on the hug too. I smile at his arms flailing past Minho to wrap me. Minho grumbles, but eventually caves in, and lets the boy in on the hug too. Now us three young, adult men sit on my bed, in a group hug, in a perfectly normal manner. Minho lets go first, and his hand darts to his face. He’s probably wiping a few tears, and Thomas just lets them fall down his face. I too start to feel wet tears dance along my cheeks.

“It’s good to see ya, you bloody shanks,” I say, surprising myself at the Glader slang. “I mean- shucks- wait! Uhm… you bloody morons are giving me a migraine!”

“Once a Glader,” Thomas and Minho say, at the same time. “Always a Glader.”

“Is the threesome over?” Teresa asks, popping her head in the tent. “Buckle your belts and whatnot. We’re ready to go.”

“What about my sister?” I ask, knowing that the next words are going to make or break my future with the Gladers. “Are they coming?”

“Yes,” Teresa says, impatient. “We’re all ready to go. You’re the only one we are waiting for.”

I gather a couple things, my small knife included, and Thomas and I walk, hand in hand, out of the tent. A few whoops and cheers erupt from the girls, but Sonya looks at me very bitterly. I wonder what’s the matter with her. I break away from Thomas’ hand, and I run over to Sonya. She has tears in her eyes.

“Sonya?” I ask, careful of my words. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s hurt you, Newt.” Sonya spits, glaring at Thomas. “I trust him just about as far as I can throw him. I’m happy for you, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want to see you get hurt. Just be careful of what you are getting into.”

The worried look in her eyes sends chills down my spine. I look over to Thomas, whose gaze never left me, and I give him a small smile. His eyes light up, and he returns a bright, big, beautiful, adorable, goofy, bloody smile. I laugh, and Sonya pats me on the shoulder. She mutters something before walking away, but I don’t hear it. I’m too focused on this beautiful boy, that is all mine. He’s giving me a chance to show him how I feel, and I cannot wait to get started. I am really looking forward to the next couple days.

“Tommy?” I ask, getting his attention.

“Yeah, Newt.” He asks, the smile glued to his face.

“Quit staring, you bloody idiot,” I say, laughing. “You’re going to get a cramp.”

Sonya, the girls, Teresa, Minho, Thomas, and I all set back for the Gladerhood. I have no idea what’s in store for the future, but I know it’s going to be alright. I finally have my sister back. The Thomas of my dreams is finally reciprocating my feelings- hopefully. I have so much happiness in my heart, it doesn’t even compare to the crippling sadness I felt a mere week ago. Thomas wraps his hand around mine as if sharing the same thought as me. I brush our shoulders together, as we make our way out of the village, and back to our home.


End file.
